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| The Spiritual Nude Introduction Throughout history, the nude, whether male or female, when expressed as a unity of imagination and perception, invariably exhibits a dignity which far removes it from social concepts of nakedness. With each age, the nude whether in painting or sculpture has undergone its own transformation becoming modified and redefined in the process. My redefinition of the nude focuses on the “perception” that our corporeality is an extension of a transcendent reality. The Real and the Imaginary C. G. Jung wrote in ‘Mysterium Coniunctionis’ (vol.14 of his collected writings): “The existence of a transcendental reality is indeed evident in itself, but is uncommonly difficult for our consciousness to construct intellectual models which would give a graphic description of the reality we have perceived”. My insight into this fundamental issue has changed over the years from my dynamic ephemeral figures of the 1980’s to my most recent polychromatic nudes which attest this basic precept that the archetypal world inside ourselves is just as real - or imaginary - as the physical world we inhabit. The Drawing and Painting Nearly all my work starts with drawing from the life model or occasionally ancient Greek sculptures. The work explores each model’s kinaesthetic awareness through spontaneous and undirected movement. Each drawing session thus becomes a minimalist theatre of the imagination. The paintings are developed from this material. My work is an exploration of the nude as the central and fundamental archetype of human existence. The archetype is not a thing in itself, but an experience of the spirit. The paintings focus on the integration of the figure and its dynamic energy field or aura. This sometimes takes on its own abstract form as in the diptychs of the ‘Chromatic Sequences’ - like standing in front of a mirror and seeing one's own immortality reflected from the mortal perspective. The Pigments and Gold Leaf The natural and mineral pigments I use not only harmonise with pure gold leaf, but also produce a very different palette of colour and luminosity compared to modern synthetic pigments whether in oil, fir balsam resins, tempera or distemper binding mediums. The pigments include lapis lazuli, azurite, malachite, cinnabar, orpiment, realgar, vivianite, purpurite, red and green jaspers, stibnite, pyrolusite, cerussite, galena, calcite, quartz and Japanese oyster-shell white (Gofun). Other natural pigments include natural indigo, the root madders, cochineal red, and earth and ochre pigments. I have published three papers on mineral pigment preparation and application since 2000. |
| Chromatic Sequence No. 21, Stepping into the Eternal. 2010. Gold leaf (24 carat), natural and mineral pigments in casein distemper and oil on linen on panel. Diptych: 120 x 1599 cm / 42.2 x 62.6 ins. |
| Copyright © Michael Price Inc. |
| Solo show at the Walter Wickiser Gallery, Chelsea, New York, September 2009. |
| Email: artmprice@gmail.com |
New through Fine Art America Giclee Prints and Greetings Cards of your favourite images |
| "Chromatic Sequence No. 21, Stepping into the Eternal" exhibited in 'Gallery Artist's Part VII' at the Walter Wickiser Gallery, New York. Catalogue available. |