LESLIE PETERSON SAPP
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Why Noir? The Femme Fatale

9/7/2022

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A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #5



First, let us examine the word Femme.⁠ Merriam-Webster:⁠

Femme: ⁠
1. an adult female person⁠
2. a lesbian who is notably or stereotypically feminine in appearance and manner⁠

⁠Its French, you know? It comes from the French word for woman.

Next, let us examine the word Fatale.
⁠
⁠Another French word. It means "fatal”.

Merriam-Webster:

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©lesliepetersonsapp Queen of Diamonds 30x20
Fatal:
1. a. causing death
b. bringing ruin
c. causing failure

2. a. determining one's fate
b. of or relating to fate
c. resembling fate in proceeding according to a fixed sequence

Put them both together, and it becomes:

Femme Fatale:⁠
1. a seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising situations⁠
2. a woman who attracts men by an aura of charm and mystery⁠



The Femme Fatale is like a fairy tale princess turned on its head. She is the anti-princess. Her nemesis.

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The word “nemesis” is often used to refer to an arch enemy or polar opposite, or, as my friend Merriam-Webster sez, “a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent”.

But I like to think of her in astrological terms.

Astrologically, nemesis is a theoretical star that may have once been a twin star of our sun. A Femme Fatale is a mysterious dark star, a nemesis to the bright, sunny fairy tale princess of my childhood.

But if she is so evil, why do we love her so much?
Be good, be patient, look pretty and maybe the prince will come and save you. I was taught that as a girl, it was the foundation of my world view and identity. I had no examples of powerful, non-domestic women in my life. Into this vacuum stepped the only example of feminine power available to me: the Femme Fatale.

Classic film noir emerged during a time of immense social upheaval. Women had gone out into the working world during WWII, then were abruptly required to get back to the home and be nice. The Femme Fatale was an expression of this anxiety, an attempt to vilify powerful women and shame them back into the kitchen.
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Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity
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Gloria Grahame in The Big Heat
Though she is usually regarded as a destructive force of evil, in actuality she is often portrayed with layers of nuance- if you care to look. It is often clear that she is a woman who doesn’t have a lot of choices. She is trying to flip a bad situation to her advantage, perhaps turning the tables of power back on the men who use and control her. For me, the Femme Fatale is often infused with a tragic quality: a resourceful gal, just trying to make the best from a bad hand dealt.
In the course of my personal maturity, I am finding my way to a healthier embodiment of power.

It has taken most of my adult life to build up some understanding of how to be an entrepreneur, which is essentially what a professional artist is.

I’ve had a lot of catching up to do.


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©lesliepetersonsapp Blue Room 40x40
But all the while, I still rejoice in the cathartic glorification of my dark princess, the lost twin star, our nemesis, the Femme Fatale.

For Extra Credit!
A fabulous article: In Defense of Villainesses, by Sarah Gailey- so much fun!


Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
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Why Noir? The Art and Style of the Era

9/5/2022

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A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #4


Any artist will tell you, the key to artistic maturity is to discover one's own unique, consistent language. I seek to find a balance of representation and abstraction.

Modern Art, and design in the Modernist period dealt with this specifically.

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Italian travel poster, Mario Puppo, 1948
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Italian travel poster, Mario Puppo, 1941
While experts say Modernism died with the onslaught of WWII, I think it was a part of the cultural zeitgeist well afterwards, especially in popular culture.
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Blind Minotaur Led through the Night by Girl with Fluttering Dove, Picasso, 1935
My style is evocative of the painting and graphic arts that were contemporary with the hey-day of film noir. So, not only do I learn from films noir directly, I also love the style of the era, and let this inform the way I choose to depict the subject.
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The Little Fish, Max Beckmann, 1933
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Charles Sheeler, Canyons, 1951
Much like how I engage with the subject of film noir, I like to find the essence of what I am seeing and try to express it with forthright simplicity.
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©lesliepetersonsapp Glass Houses 30x28

Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
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Why Noir? Studying Film Noir Makes Me a Better Painter.

9/2/2022

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A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #3


Many film noir aficionados know that American film noir was born from German Expressionism,
an art movement that started at the turn of the 20th century, and encompassed painting, theater, music, literature, and the brand-new medium of film.
It sought to express emotion and subjective experience by using symbolism, exaggeration, and distortion. In painting, the elements of design were used to support a narrative.

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"M" 1931 Fritz Lang
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"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" 1920
In cinematography, the techniques used included deep focus, extreme camera angles, dramatic lighting shone from raked angles, and chiaroscuro (which is a painterly technique developed during the Renaissance where use of deep variations of light and dark is used to enhance mood and create dramatic effect).
I consider the masters of film noir my teachers as well as my inspiration. By studying their cinematographic virtuosity, I have become a better narrative painter.

Because the noir aesthetic is so specific, I am obliged to narrow my focus and deepen my decisions, which has honed my skills.

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"Crossfire" 1947
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©lesliepetersonsapp Lamplight 40x48
I have become better at marshaling the elements of design, such as value, arrangement, and scale. I believe these skills transcend any specific style and will translate to other subjects as my creative interests evolve.
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©lesliepetersonsapp Exit 28x18

Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
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Why Noir? Begin the béguin

8/31/2022

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A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #2


Begin the béguin
bé·guin|\ bā-gaⁿ \ noun \ bi-ˈgēn\

Definition of béguin
1. a :infatuation
2. a :a vigorous popular dance of the islands of Saint Lucia and Martinique that somewhat resembles the rumba

Etymology: American French béguine, from French béguin flirtation


How did I start my film noir obsession?
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I was in a state of transition with my art. Unsatisfied with the work I had been doing at that time, I went back to basics and started experimenting, and taking classes from Mark Andres. I was engaging in an exercise to copy a film still in the style of a painter of my choice. My choice was to do a still from The Bad and the Beautiful, in the style of the German Expressionist, Max Beckmann. I entitled it “Lana Turner Lost in the Land of Beckmann” The drama of the subject, matched with the freedom of Expressionist painting was a revelation.


I was hooked.
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©lesliepetersonsapp Fatale 30x36 Collage on panel
At first, I created my art directly from screenshots of films.  They were very altered, but from specific scenes. Gradually, the images kept getting more and more altered, until I started to create my own scenes.

Anticipate was the bridge. This was based on a scene from The Killers, but it was so altered, there would be no way to identify it as coming from that movie.
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©lesliepetersonsapp Anticipate 16x20 Collage on panel
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Blue Room was the first absolute original. I dressed myself up in costumes and took pictures of myself. From those pictures, I stitched together a scene with multiple figures, creating my own movie, as it were.
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©lesliepetersonsapp Blue Room 40x40 Collage on panel
Now ideas emerge from multiple sources. I may be inspired from a film scene or photograph, or I may want to express something from my own imagination. The people I paint are slivers of my own soul, maybe even archetypes of our collective soul.
The scenes in my artwork are presented without irony and are imbued with an immediacy which invites the viewer to step into the scene as a contemporary moment. If we could walk through the picture frame and become part of the action. If this could be possible, what would you see, and who would be there?
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©lesliepetersonsapp Miss Darger II 24x30 Acrylic on panel

Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.

​Entry #1: Why Noir?
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Why Noir? A Series on How Film Noir Inspires My Art

8/29/2022

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A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #1


I am an artist who is inspired by the past. As a narrative painter, I feel compelled to tell a story with my art. For a number of years now, my subject matter has been primarily based on classic film noir imagery.
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©lesliepetersonsapp Passion in the Suburbs

Since I started with this genre, I have engaged with authors, bloggers and social media groups devoted to the subject. I have found enthusiasts out there who seem to know every detail of every film noir; classic American noir, foreign noir, neo-noir- all the noir.

This level of detail and focus eludes me. My mind just doesn’t work that way.

I am an artist. Artists take input and use it as grist to generate unique output.

So, I feel I must ask myself, why noir? Why do I feel myself drawn to this imagery?

I seem compelled to tell a story with my art and create a narrative. For me, the act of telling a story is more important than the trappings of time, place and characters.



It is the essence of film noir that I am after, rather than the specific details. During the jazz age, a composer would write a song, then singers and musicians would perform their own version of it. But the structure of the song remained the same. I seek to take the elements of film noir and create my own, unique rendition.
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Peer 48x24 ©lesliepetersonsapp

Film Noir? Qu'est-ce que c'est?

The hey-day of this film genre is roughly the 1940’s and 50’s. But, the term "Film Noir" was coined by French film critics later, in the 1960’s. At the time, they were simply known as “crime pictures” inspired by American hardboiled crime fiction. They were largely “B” movies with a tight budget.

Many of them were made by European émigrés escaping the Nazis. They brought with them a grounding in what is called “German Expressionism”.


The unique and sophisticated aesthetic was not fully appreciated at the time; crime movies ran under the radar and attracted no critical praise. But the superior film making techniques have made them gain popularity over the decades.

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 1920
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The techniques used include deep focus cinematography, extreme camera angles, dramatic lighting shone from raked angles, and chiaroscuro (which is a painterly technique developed during the Renaissance where use of deep variations of light and dark is used to enhance mood and create dramatic effect).
The term “noir” has since expanded to not just describe a moment in movie history, but to describe a sensibility, that can be infused into any form of expression.
To read more about film noir, you can read my posts:

A Brief Primer on Film Noir Part One: The Formal Visual Elements

A Brief Primer on Film Noir Part Two: Oh, the Drama!


Or better yet!
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Check out The Film Noir Foundation, which restores films noir and shows them at their film festivals.

It's founder, the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, is also a host on TCM's Noir Alley, which shows films noir every Saturday night and Sunday mornings.


Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
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What is a Blog?

8/15/2022

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Okay. If you are reading this, you may think I'm mad, because, obviously, this is a blog.

But, it recently came to my attention that not everyone really understands what a blog is. Since I am about to release a blog series, I thought it would be a good idea to just spell it all out.

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The word "blog" is a truncation of the term "weblog".

It emerged with the internet, and predates social media (Facebook, etc.) All of a sudden, anyone could write just about anything and just throw it up on the web. There was no need to seek a publisher, or a magazine or anything. You could just go for it.

I think of my blog entries as short articles, like I am a contributing editor in my own, personal magazine. In contrast to social media posts, my blog entries are often  slightly longer and more in depth, always with links to outside sources, to facilitate readers' research if they become curious.

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Typically, blogs are arranged in reverse chronological order, newest going down to oldest. It is as if you collected a daily newspaper, and stacked them all up on the floor: the newest would be on top. The oldest at the bottom.
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A few more details:

On the side bar, there are ways to find specific entries or subjects under "categories" and "archives". There is even a search bar, where you can do a mini-google-type search on the blog.

There is also a way to make comments on my blog, just below each entry. The comment gets kicked over to my email box, where I can decide whether I want my readers to see the comment or not. If I do want that, I "publish" it, and it will be seen just below.

A bit of history...

I started my blog at blogspot.com in 2008, even before I had a website. In May, 2022, I switched away from Blogspot to  to this blog, which is hosted by Weebly, the company that hosts my website.

This means that I essentially have two blogs. I was able to switch some of my entries from the old blog to the new, but the original Blogspot version has many, many more entries, and  if  you ever become obsessed and want to know about my artistic history, that is where you'd go. But all new posts will be hosted right here.
 
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An Artist Who Inspires- Paul Gauguin

7/11/2022

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Paul Gauguin. A giant of the art world, to the extent where one hardly thinks of him at all.

Like Degas' dancers and VanGogh's sunflowers, Gauguin is ubiquitous in popular culture to the extent that his work, and what it has to teach us, isn’t given the respect it deserves by some "serious" artists.

But truthfully, I return to him again and again.
Here, while painting a piece called "Look Out", I had my trusty Gauguin book, laying on the floor beside my easel, so I could catch it out of the corner of my eye as I worked.


The issue? I needed permission to make my figure orange. It's okay to paint orange skin.

Gauguin has shown me so.

Skin painted with orange, green, and blue- not just variations of pink and brown I seem to regulate myself to.

Skin tone. Let's talk about skin tone.


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Look Out- work in progress ©lesliepetersonsapp
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Gauguin, Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), 1892


Gauguin is well known for the paintings he did while living in  Tahiti, and for his sensual depictions of the people he encountered there. He is considered to be one of the first Primitivists in art.

Primitivism is an art movement that was developed along with European colonialization.


The art of non-European lands came to influence and educate the artists in Europe and led to exciting new forms of abstraction, such as geometric designs, exaggerated body proportions and stark contrasts. It is part of what makes Modern Art and Post-Impressionism so beautiful and engaging.

But unfortunately, it didn’t just stop with what non-European art could teach them.

It also included a Eurocentric romanticization of a contrived and idealized “past” in which humans were in “harmony” with nature, and expressive of our “natural” drives and desires. Instead of seeing these other cultures on their own terms, they were viewed through a European lens, and reflected back on what it meant to be Europea
n.
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Gauguin, Pape Moe (Mysterious Water) 1893
It seems funny to me that I found myself looking at paintings of Tahitians to get the tone I am looking for in my painting- unless, of course, the man in Look Out is Tahitian.
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Gauguin, Self-portrait with Manao Tupapau, 1893

The license Gauguin took in his use of color isn’t just about how he depicted figures. His expressionistic use of color pervades all objects and landscapes. Yellow skies and red soils abound.

Using color in unconventional ways is universal in his work, no matter if the scene is in Tahiti, or France, no matter who the subject was.





Looking at a Gauguin is an “embarrassment of riches” when it comes to what one can learn and be influenced by.

In fact, how he compositions his images, and how he simplifies shapes has had more of an impact on my work than his use of color.

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Gauguin, The White Horse, 1898
But, being influenced by Gauguin’s bold use of color helps me stretch my comfort level and key up my palette when needed.
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Gauguin, Vision After the Sermon, 1888
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Gauguin, Breton Woman in Prayer 1894
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Gauguin, The Cellist (Portrait of Fritz Scheklud) 1894
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Gauguin, Maneo Tupapau (The Spirit of the Dead Watching) 1892
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From Venus to the Pin-Up: A History of "Boudoir" Paintings

5/7/2022

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Warning: this post has pictures of bare-naked ladies.


My newest piece, Boudoir II, may be called something of a "boudoir painting"- a bit of campy fun for me. I find myself drawn to appropriating and playing with traditional forms of displaying the female form. ⁠
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©lesliepetersonsapp Boudoir II 40x48 Acrylic, charcoal, and collage on panel

What is a boudoir painting?⁠
It is a painting of an object of desire, for the purposes of private viewing, rather that public display. In other words, for the bedroom, not the drawing room.

However prurient the motivations creating and owning such art may have been, boudoir painting has an august history, and are often considered to be some of the worlds greatest works of art.

The examples of boudoir paintings shown below differ from Boudoir II in one important way: my lady has got clothes on. But what it does have in common with them are: a prominent female figure, who usually addresses the viewer directly, in an intimate setting, that includes props that infer meaning. ⁠The trappings and props create a narrative, and often, the artworks raison d'etre.
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Titian, "Danae" 1554
In this example, Titian depicts a reclining nude woman. Very erotic, but you may notice the odd "golden shower" descending upon her from above. It depicts the Greek myth of Danae, who is visited by Zeus in the form of a golden rain. Accoutrements such as these legitimized the painting of erotic subjects.

In this Titian, there is a similar pose, but this time he ditches the mythology. Yet, there is still some allegory- or is there? Debates are ongoing. Why are her servants looking in a clothes chest in the background? Does the little dog signify fidelity?
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Titian "Venus Of Urbino" (1538)⁠
At any rate, the inclusion of "Venus" in the title provides the necessary bona fides that made this an acceptable work to own. 

"Orientalism" is another way that western painters could legitimize depicting the female nude. Imperialism and colonialism created a blank canvas upon which a European artist could depict sensuality not permitted by polite society in Europe.

Grand Odalisque by Ingres ⁠is one of the most famous examples of this.
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Ingres "Grand Odalisque" (1814)⁠
Interesting fact: the word "Odalisque" means an enslaved woman, or a concubine in a harem. It's French, derived from the Turkish word, odalık, which derived from the word oda, meaning "room". As in, you can't leave your room.

Then things started to get really interesting.

In 1865, Edward Manet painted "Olympia". It was transparently referring to The Venus of Urbino, shown above, but with oppositional elements. It was shocking to society at the time, not because she was naked, but because of her frank, direct gaze, and accoutrements that indicated she was a prostitute, not a goddess or an exotic "other". She is depicted as a woman in charge of her sexuality, not a receptive, docile plaything. (An interesting and related subject is the difference between "nude" and "naked" in traditional art- but that is for another blog post!)
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Manet "Olympia" 1865
Though the veil may have been ripped off the pretense of female nudity, the racist depiction of her black maid, who literally disappears into the background, was entirely conventional.

For some interesting background about both of the models in this painting, go to these articles: Victorine Meurent and Laure.

Just to give you an idea of what was "acceptable" female nudity during that time, check out this painting by Alexandre Cabanel in 1863. Venus is born, complete with tiny cherubs! (A far cry from the original, formidable Eros!)
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Alexandre Cabanel, "Birth of Venus" 1863

As time went on, the ability to mass produce imagery developed, so the  boudoir picture moved from the salons of the privileged few to the Everyman. Depictions of nudity, and specifically female nudity, became more and more acceptable in fine art and in popular culture.
Most everyone is familiar with the pin-up girl. This is a classic example done by the quintessential pin-up artist Alberto Vargas in 1945.

The pin-up had a particular combination of innocence and sexual knowingness that makes this genre particularly unique, and makes it popular even to this day. The aesthetic of the pin-up girl has been co-opted by women as a form of creative self expression and, ironically, healthy body image. The stagey pretense and the playfulness makes it a popular medium for female expression.
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For a great example of this, check out Vixen Pin Up Photography, whose tag-line is "Be the Girl of Your Dreams"

In 1975, Laura Mulvey, feminist film and culture critic coined the phrase "The Male Gaze" to unpack the phenomena of the preponderance of female nudes in visual culture.

In the 1970's, Sylvia Sleigh turned it all on its head by painting men, nude, in vaguely "orientialist" settings, to evoke traditional odalisque paintings. ⁠
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Sylvia Sleigh "Phillip Golub Reclining" (1971)⁠
In 1985, an anonymous group of female artists called The Guerrilla Girls formed to fight sexism and racism within the art world.
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I remember seeing their posters around Manhattan when I was in college, of course, not understanding or appreciating what it really meant, or how it applied to me.
I did a bit of appropriating myself in 2017, using the  Grand Odalisque to depict the goddess Circe in my Man of Many Wiles show at Gallery 114. Back to the good old goddess days, only this time, she uses her powers to turn men into pigs.
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©lesliepetersonsapp Circe of the Lovely Braids 10x18

So, what does this all mean? I don't pretend to be particularly enlightened when it comes to feminism and art. I am still very beholden to The Male Gaze myself. But part of being an artist is following where our inspiration leads us. My relationship to sexualized images of women is an inexorable part of who I am. The question is, what do I do with it? How does it reflect my individuality? Does it resonate with others, and if so, how?
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In light of this, I recently purchased Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture by Maria Elena Buszek.


Stay Tuned.

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True Confession: I Love Archeology!

3/15/2022

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Yes, I love archeology and ancient history.
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Whenever I want to relax, I turn on the Science Channel to watch Unearthed, or Mysteries of the Abandoned.
 
I have two magazine subscriptions (Archaeological Institute of America, and Current World Archeology) and look forward to them like a kid waiting for his Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring to arrive in the mail.

On my last vacation, I brought books to read and some drawing materials. One book in particular grabbed me and wouldn't let go; The Sutton Hoo Story by Martin Carver. I felt moved to produce drawings inspired by what I learned and saw.

I find myself so fascinated by archeology that, at some point, I may create an entirely new body of work. It's all very speculative, but it is very exciting for me, and I wanted to share it with you now.


What is Sutton Hoo? ⁠

It's a burial site in England, with many types of burials, from royal barrows to gallows graveyard, dating from the 6th to 7th centuries.⁠ They appear as mounds on a flat landscape, next to the River Deben.
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There is a really great movie based on a novel, both called The Dig that dramatizes the excavation of Mound 1, where some of the most impressive and beautiful artifacts ever found in Britain were discovered.

But while I like jewels and treasures, it is the dirt and bones that really intrigue me.

My first endeavor was a pencil sketch of the remains in burial Mound 17.

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Mound 17 was an un-looted burial mound whose inhabitant was buried in a tree trunk coffin (how COOL is that?) sometime between 560-650 AD.
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Among other things, there were caldrons, weapons, a comb, and the remains of a bridle. In another mound close by, his horse was interred, along with a bucket of oats.

My next sketch was of another, very different type of grave.
After the region had converted to Christianity, this sacred ground, populated with rich burial mounds for esteemed community leaders, was used as a place to execute convicted criminals. A gallows was erected on one of the mounds, and the site is littered with shallow graves of the disgraced and condemned.
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But the thing that makes it all the more more fascinating, is that there is actually no body there at all. The acidic soil of the area consumes organic material.

But the body that was once there changes the make-up of the soil, making it dark and crusty. When someone excavates it, they can carefully remove the soil around where the body once was, leaving a fragile "sand man".
It's sad, it's haunting and it's beautiful.

The last piece I produced is a pencil sketch of an idea I have brewing in the back of my brain. My impulse is to layer, somehow, images and inspirations from digs. I would like to create drawings of the finds, and layer them with schematic diagrams and maps, along with my imagined scenarios of the people and objects when they were alive and in use. I may need to learn a new medium, such as encaustic, to gain the effect I want.
This is a rough idea of what I might do. It is a composite image of things from the famous Mound 1. Below the sketch are images from the book that I have woven into the sketch.
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Mound 1 was covering a large ship. Within the hull of the ship there was a wooden burial chamber, containing a coffin and body, and many stunningly valuable grave goods. It is one of the most famous archeological finds in history.
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But, like the "sand men", the actual ship, chamber, and body have long since dissolved. But the wood of the ships hull, again, changed the make up of the sand, and what was left was a ghostly impression of a ship, along with the corroded iron rivets, in long, graceful, curving lines.


This is a photograph of Basil Brown, standing in the middle of the ship. He was the self-taught archeologist who excavated the un-looted grave in 1938.




The second image here is a schematic drawing archeologists have made, depicting what they believe the original burial chamber within the ship contained.

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The third image here is a schematic map of the area, with black dots depicting the location of various burial mounds, and the three hypothetical routes by which the mourners transported the ship from the River Deben, up the bank, to the burial site, to inter the deceased.

I'm really not sure where this is headed. It's very exciting and a little scary.
 
I will continue with my current series of art based on film noir until it feels right to commence on this new path.
 
Maybe I never will get to it, or maybe I will start next week.
 
Stay tuned.

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An Artist Who Inspires- Arvie Smith

2/17/2022

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Arvie Smith (born 1938) is a nationally recognized African American painter based in my hometown of Portland, Oregon.

Arvie Smith, Ease on Down the Road, 30x22

There is a nice little bio of him here on the Hallie Ford Museum website, where he is having an exhibition from January 22- March 26th, 2022.

Smith's work is so, so, so many things. 


Arvie Smith, Dem Golden Slippers, 2007 68x68
Some words I think of when seeing his work:

Arvie Smith, Steppin' Out, 30x22

Beautiful

Sad

Ironic

Tragic

Funny

Sensual

Alive

Courageous 

Sharp

Glorious   

 

 

The figures in his paintings shift from being vivid individuals, to embodying biting racist tropes, and back again.  He celebrates Black culture and tradition, and in the same image crams racist symbols from the larger, white dominated culture. These images live side by side in the same painting, which is what I imagine it may be like for African Americans every day, all day long.

Arvie Smith BestMan 2016 72x60
As a "nice white lady" my impulse is to avert my eyes from the ugly racist images, and yet, Arvie Smith's paintings are just so gorgeous, so funny and alive, I cannot help but bask in them. I must look and look and look. 

Arvie Smith, Honkie Tonk, 68x78 2015

Seeing these paintings on your tiny phone or desk top will in no way indicate what it is like to see them in person. They fairly leap off the wall at you, and they seem to pulse with color and light. 

His website is here:www.arviesmith.com

Arvie Smith Scare Crow 2016 60x48

Arvie Smith, Trial of Tears 68x60

Arvie Smith 68x60 diptic right



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