oil on canvas, 30 x 30″, August 17 2019
I read a book a long time ago in which the artist referred to oil paint squeezed from tubes as coloured shit… which it is of course. The thing is working with oil paint is a balancing act. (Whereas working with acrylics, for example, is just too easy.) The balancing act, that is to say, painting with oils, can and frequently does not go according to plan. Accidents happen. Sometimes beneficial, sometimes not. The history of art is a history of accidents. Today I realised that oil paint might be likened to semen, the male reproductive fluid, containing spermatozoa in suspension. Particles of pigment suspended in linseed oil. And, moving on, a painting might perhaps be regarded as a series of ejaculations, or bukkake. It amuses me to think of myself as a painter (AKA masturbator) shooting load after load of coloured sperm over the canvas. This is especially noticeable in the painting “Map of the known universe” where the paint is left to run down the canvas. Just a thought…
peter robinson fine art 