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Fighter

 

Inner wrestle

This time it was a fantasy scene inspired by an uncredited photograph I came across somewhere on Tumblr. I tried and did my best but I could not trace the original or the name of the author. Yet somehow I irresistibly wanted to paint this scene, that final moment before the bout, the moment between peace and fight. The frozen tension combined with the calm concentration of this pose and gesture intrigued me for weeks. I was doubting for a long time if I had to paint after this photograph. The urge to try and paint finally won.
   
Well, hereby the difficult question I keep on asking myself (and my fellow artists). Besides all the crediting and copyrighting issues, is our art that is made on the base of someone else's work truly art at all? Or is that then simply a skill? Yes, I significantly altered the whole setting to fit my own vision, but still, the fundamental elements of the idea, composition, lighting, and thus the most important jobs in art, were actually all invented by the original photographer. So it remains a struggle.
If anybody by any chance recognises the original photo, please let me know the name of the author so I can credit them properly. I will at least include their name after "After" in the painting's title.
       

This painting is another one in the Hands' Private Life series. (Painted after a detail of the photograph of an unknown (to me) artist.)
Oil on panel 25 x 35 cm, alla prima, limited palette. The final varnish to be applied not before September 2024.       

View the finished painting in my gallery. 

Exhibitions:
- Expo in De Ketel. April to June 2024, Cultuurlokaal De Ketel, Hilvarenbeek, NL
- Driedaagse Expo at Het Stalhuus. June 2025, Hollum


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