Still Life with Matisse's Red Studio
20 x 24" Oil on Linen
I have always thought of Matisse’s artistic philosophy as the
polar opposite of my own. Day and night, fire and water, life and death. My
world is luminous and atmospheric, his is flat and static. My world is
inhabited by forms, his with shapes and patterns. His world screams with color,
mine is more reserved, with a combination of subtle and vibrant tones. Yet we
both live on the same planet and breathe the same air. I became intensely aware
of this contrast on a recent visit to the Museum of Modern Art, as I stood in
my atmospheric world and stared at his flat world. Before me was his Red Studio,
and between myself and his painting there was space and people moving freely in
that space. I found it curious and fascinating that these two opposite worlds coexisted
without conflict, and that no one else in the museum seemed to notice the
contrast at all. I began to wonder if these opposite worlds could exist on the
same canvas. When I returned to my studio, I set up a still life in my
atmospheric world and used Matisse’s Red Studio as the background. I
looked through my space into his flat world. My forms contrasted with his
shapes. My vibrant and subtle tones played against his intense color. Our
worlds, polar opposites, did not collide, they coexisted. The result is subtle yet
dynamic, simple yet intensely lively, playful yet profound…