Determination - Pramod Kurlekar

Abstraction

This is the most glorious portrait I have seen for a long, long time. A portrait artist friend sent it to me because I said I want the complexity in my background of my portrait without detracting from subject - no matter what anyone thinks the rules of composition are supposed to be. So she shared this as an example of it done well. It's masterful.

And I venture to say that in the history of art, never has a dog's tongue been so beautiful.

There's a quote attributed to Picasso that I think is apocryphal - 'Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.' Love it anyway.

But this really happened: “You’ve got to know the rules to break them… That’s what I’m here for – to demolish the rules but keep the tradition” Alexander McQueen - a fashion designer.

Richard_P

Absolutely stunning painting! Love it

toujours

I think I am drooling more than the dog is.  I could look at this painting forever and never tire of it.  I am so grateful your friend alerted you to it and to you for passing it on to us.

tassieguy

It's wonderful, @Abstraction.  Although there's a lot going on in the background, the artist got the values there, relative to the main subject, correct and so the background shapes fall away while we take in the figure. But we remain aware of the background and after studying the figure and the dog's head we are invited to spend some time exploring the shapes back there on the wall before returning to the portrait's subject. It's a great painting that I could look at for hours. And a great piece to learn from. Thanks for posting it. 

GTO

Impressive portrait.   The background is as interesting to explore as the prince.  

broker12

Keep in mind that what makes the portrait so prominent is that the background is soft . . . this is a great study of the importance of how value and edges command the eye.  Andrew Loomis said that a pig can become great art if these things (value/edges) were properly handled.

toujours

broker12 said:

Keep in mind that what makes the portrait so prominent is that the background is soft . . . this is a great study of the importance of how value and edges command the eye.  Andrew Loomis said that a pig can become great art if these things (value/edges) were properly handled.

I find that quote a very odd comment for someone to make.    I wonder why anyone would think a painting of a pig if well executed should be any different to a painting of anything else well executed?    It seems a rather fatuous statement to me.  I wonder if he regretted having said it, or if it was quoted slightly out of context?  Perhaps I am just misreading it....?

Abstraction

@toujours I'm puzzled by your puzzlement. I don't think the intent of the statement is obscure - lots of people wouldn't think about a pig as an aesthetically pleasing object that they want to see painted and to hang on their wall. He just plucked that out of the air as an example.

toujours

Sorry, I did not explain myself well,  I have a 2 fold difficulty,  1st is that the saying should not need to be voiced, it is so obvious as to not need explaining, even to non artists.
2nd, why would anyone think a pig was not worth painting? The curves of a wallowing pig are more pleasing to the eye than a lot of Rubenesque paintings out there!