Video: Pictures are out of focus. Philip Barlow's unconventional painting
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Lack of clear boundaries, lack of sharpness, blurry silhouettes - these are good reasons for a photographer to remove a bad shot and try to take a second or even a third take. Whereas an artist Philip Barlow I spent months honing this technique, trying to make his paintings as blurred as possible, the borders are indistinct, and the silhouettes resemble bright spots of an indefinite shape. It seems that this is what the world looks like for a short-sighted person who has forgotten his glasses at home. And this has its own charm. Doubtful, but still there. Wise people like to say that if we do not see something, this does not mean that this “something” does not really exist. Perhaps you need to change the point of view and angle of view, arm yourself with auxiliary means, or simply turn on the imagination, and the secret will become obvious, and the incomprehensible will take on boundaries and forms. Philip Barlow invites us to look at the world with blurred eyes, and try to get used to this world, as people with visual impairments do.
Surprisingly, it won't be difficult. In order to adequately perceive reality, it is not at all necessary to clearly see every dash - it is important to have a general idea of what is happening around, turn on associative thinking and rely not on vision, but on other senses. And then abstract blots and figures will turn into recognized objects, in which you can easily recognize people on the streets and in parks, on the beach and in the store. The outlines of houses and cars will cease to merge into one whole, and the world will again become familiar, understandable, recognizable. But the feeling of a tourist in his hometown will still remain, and this has its own charm.
Philip Barlow lives in Cape Town, a modern industrial city where life is in full swing on weekdays, as well as on weekends and holidays. This explains the artist's passion for urban landscapes, depicting the life of a big city day after day, week after week. The artist draws mainly in oil on canvas, his corporate style is loved and recognized by many fans of non-standard painting. You can get acquainted with the artist's work on his website.
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