Vic Vicini is an American artist (see more of his work on this website and on this and this blog) who paints primarily still life, with exquisite realistic detail. His subjects include kitchen utensils and appliances, food, florals and cars, among others. Studying his paintings one comes to a realization that the artist harbors a particular fascination with reflection: metal objects of all sorts trap light and mirror the ambiance; they are so deliciously bright and shiny that a comparison to a crystal ball (especially with the round shaped kettles and pots) sneaks into the viewer’s mind — implying a clairvoyance of the simple kind, that of a dedicated homemaker doing his or her magic in the kitchen.
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Lets take a look at some of Ming’s black and white illustrations and comic strips. That’s where his humor and feather light touch (the side that I have not given due attention in previous posts) find a space to breathe and attest the artist’s funny bone, which may have receded in the larger pieces. These works, minimalistic by generic constraints, savour of all the pungency of the artist’s salt — just like chamber music, where there is more silence to fill, may sharpen and focus more clearly the peculiarities of the composer’s style (which may become obfuscated in symphonies) — the spacious, usually expressing a single idea comics speak for the artist tersely and to the point.
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Ming has demonstrated a keen eye for impressionism in his interpretation of such great masters as Monet and Cezanne. Although his variety is somewhat darker, “messier” than the originals, compressing homage with seeds of disruption — a development one would expect from a contemporary artist — the confident handling of the painterly vocabulary of the art movement evokes nostalgia and a renewed sense of trust in the classic repository. It is reassuring that artists still hold the keys to it, visit its brilliant galleries and occasionally allow the rest of us in, offering a new angle or sometimes simply a visual commentary.
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Ming is a Malaysian (of Chinese origin) artist and prominent art blogger, whose work you may find on 30dayartist and his art blog. His interests cover many fields of the visual arts, painting, illustration and comics to name just a few. To my mind, similarly to many artists who are and were actively involved in the business side of the trade, Ming is constantly torn between the, some would say, conflicting elements of creative expression and hard cold marketing. I may be off the mark in my psychological observation regarding his artistic output — but some of his paintings project anger, the result of this conflict, making them a fascinating playground of powerful emotions.
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It’s funny how a piece of art in one branch of the discipline can lead to ramblings on another, in a different branch. A blessed interconnectedness! About a year ago I browsed videoart.net, a website dedicated to an eponymous offshoot of cinematic artistic expression, watched a few videos, and even registered. There are some stunning clips there, and it’s worth a visit. One episode in particular (can’t remember which) caught my attention: recorded by a hand held camera, it presented a series of takes and images seen from first person view; one of the scenes dwelt for a few seconds on the shoes of the camera person, from the exact same angle that you see in the painting below.
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