A DIFFERENT DIRECTION

By Henry Vermillion

I´ve just completed a canvas called “Kafka, Kitaj, and Joe Singer”. And rather than have folks take a glance, think “Pretty strange” before moving along, I’m going to first explain how the painting came about.

First, it´s painted over a 30” X 40” canvas which was covered by a painted sketch of my wife, which neither of us much liked (she hated it). Second---I´ve long been an admirer of the American-born painter R.B. Kitaj, who trained and spent most of his career in London. He was one of those painters who was widely read in art history, poetry, and esthetics, and was an admirer of the Czech writer Franz Kafka. (He also worked two years as a merchant marine seaman and served in the U.S. military. The charcoal profile in the upper right corner of the picture is Kitaj.) Third---Joe Singer was a friend of Kitaj´s mother when the artist was a child. A Jew, Kitaj (years later) painted Joe in a safe underground refuge. The distorted female face mid-right and the wild-haired face in mid-picture are all quotes from Kitaj paintings or pastel drawings.

The two people in the upper left are Kafka´s mother and father. The mother appears again in the upper right. One of Kafka´s best-known writings is an eloquent letter to his father, a domineering and oppressive businessman. In it, Kafka tells his father that he has always been afraid of him and that he felt himself a failure because of those fears. (The letter was never delivered.)

Lastly, the “Why” of the picture. For a good while, I´ve felt that I need to aim a little higher in my work; need to risk a little more. I myself grew up a word family: my father was a newspaperman and public relations writer. At university, I studied literature and science, not art, so it was natural that I was drawn to Kitaj´s work, full of literary references as it is-- visual dreams, eroticism, politics, strange colors in odd combinations. He was a fine draftsman---his sure line could capture anything. He was admired by and influenced David Hockney and many others of that generation.

And—I´ve said it before, but I´ll repeat it: being the famous tourist and expatriate town that it is, San Miguel art is naturally oriented toward the tourist/expatriate trade. Not much work with ideas, or things to think about. Not much close looking. But, why not?