Tag: Antonio Vivaldi

S_V_H Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – Winter – Allegro image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

4SWinterAllegro1

This canvas consists of nine panels and is almost eighteen feet in length.  In the beginning I was against a canvas this long.  This art room is only thirty feet by sixteen, and just handling such a large work would create serious movement issues for one person. The problem, was with me, and that I considered an artwork  one piece no matter how many canvases.  So, thinking that way I considered ways to go short to fix handling issues.  To do this I began, as I always do with large works,  by laying them out on the floor.  To keep this works  length down in size, I found I could zig-zag the music.

By off setting and stacking of the canvases the length could be shortened.  This seemed to work until I realized how difficult it would be to connect the pieces, not only right to left but also top to bottom.  Also it quickly became clear that the height of the work would also cause  issues, with the limited height adjustments of the easels.  None of this was making sense.  That was when I decided the only answer would be let the work grow to whatever length it wished. To then, to solve the handling issue of a very long work,  I  decided to divide up that length into manageable pieces.  The thought was I could then place a much more manageable piece on the easels and then change it out with the other section when needed.  I soon realized that by adding an extra easel and some extra support, I could fit both pieces on the easels. Of course, I then realized, with some adjustments to the easels, that I could line them up. Finally I bolted the pieces together, as one.  I came full circle.  This all makes sense knowing that I am saving  the best Four Seasons movements for later projects. The thought is that my rapid artistic maturing will be a benefit  to those movements I care the most about.  Plus, I know that the best of the best of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, could easily reach lengths of twenty feet or more.

This is the introduction, an a look at how and why I plan on working together on two different works, one large one small.

This is a short discussion about Image one of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Winter Largo.

 

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Winter Largo Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

4SWinterLargoFinal

Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, RV297, Winter Largo final image. I still have to create a final portrait of this work for the website. What you are again seeing in the enlargement are two separate photos merged together.

Now, I am wondering  where am I going to store this 15 foot artwork, once it leaves the easels. I do have the last Vivaldi work, another 15 footer, Autumn Allegro, hanging in our living room, but I am thinking for safety reasons, I will put this one with the other giants stored on the lower section of this house. It would be nice to hang it in the bedroom,  but most likely it will quickly end up leaving the studio, because of its size, to be  carefully and tightly stacked together with dozens of other artworks.   This storage method works, especially with the use of silicone paper sheets to keep each work separated,  but this makes it  difficult for me to see them, if  they can even be found. There have been many times, that I have  dug out an artwork,  but mostly I have found it easier to look at them on-line, to refresh an idea, or to see how an object was painted in the past.

That brings me to something that I have wondered about.  Knowing that Vincent Van Gogh sent most of his finished work to Theo,  I wonder how much did he miss by not being  able to look at his finished works.  Maybe, seeing his past canvases, for him, was not that necessary for his new subjects were in front of him, presenting him with fresh ideas.  But with this art, I have few visuals to work with and subject matter that sounds better than it looks, so referring to the past artworks is pretty much routine, and important to continually improving  this art.

My final thought about Winter Largo is that  I  enjoyed merging ten different canvases together.  I like letting the music define the look of the artwork. I do believe that is a winning path, that brings out the sculptor and builder in me.  A couple of other things I would like to point out, is that I like the way the beams, seen in the above photo, curve and move.  The last thing I would like to mention are those little red-orange circles, you can also see above, and the possibility that  they may play in the future, to show the music.  We shall see.

Now, here are the videos.  The first one is another summary of this artwork, while the second one is what I call a Walk Through.  I have wondered about  how best to explain this art.  I can not, for sure, tell you an exact answer.  Hopefully, using these type of videos, I can connect the viewer to the music, and to this artistic journey which so far, I have found fun to follow.

Antonio Vivaldi’s Winter Largo final comments.

Antonio Vivaldi’s  Winter Largo Walk Through.

S_V_H Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Winter Largo image4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen3 Comments

4SWinterLargo4f

This is image 4 of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Winter – Largo.  This is the sixth in the 13 part series with this artwork measuring 15 feet(4.572m) in length.  The next image you will see of this work will be the final completed work.

One addition to this work are the two interesting eight notes.  They have similar contours as sailing masts in a good wind.  I have always admired sailing ships, and actually did a little sailing in college so I have enjoyed this approach to these lone notes. Over the years there have been a lot of different attempts to display eighth notes with this idea being my favorite approach.   In addition to the eighth notes the quarter rest at the end of this work, I also like this evolution of this type of notation.  Those three angled rectangles  look to me like they are putting on the brakes, which works as a good representation of a musical rest.

This is work is now in its final days.  The main components have all been painted in, which leaves the only the finishing.

Rough Image:

4SWinterLargo4

Image finished:

4SWinterLargo4b

I could easily leave the work as is,  with only a little amount of clean up, and in truth the main points made in this work would still all be there. But it is the cleaning up and the sharpening of edges that gives the work that professional look.  These artworks may not have that plastic finish of much of the current  art scene, but art is more than the look it is about the depth of meaning and  purpose, along with  lots of originality.

Let me expand on originality, in that in it self guarantees nothing, when it comes to art.  My artwork, certainly has originality, but when it does not sell, and is  unknown in the art circles, who besides myself can give it value?  That is where recognition comes in.  When the artwork, somehow finds a way out of basement storage  into the view of art critics, and or art appreciation circles, then comes the opportunity for recognition. So, originality may bring opportunity, which leads hopefully to that phantom word, success.

This originality in this art is the foundation that may eventually lead to recognition and then success.  What recognition, means to me, is the changing definition who I am.  It is this transition from  Scott the IT guy that works at a local paper company, to Scott the Artist that eventually becomes know, beyond local contacts. Then with a career eventually focused entirely on art, hopefully I can create a number of small successes that it can push me further along.

Success finally leads to freedom and greater self discovery, which can end with living the dream, but in many of the lives of artists the tragic opposite has occurred.  For me, my whole life has been about, finding the way.  Now, that I have decided that Art is the way, there is no turning back no matter the overwhelming risks.  I am all in, and what happens, will happen if I am good enough to make it happen.  We shall see.

At this point in my life, there is this realization  that if I am to live the dream the time to reach this goal is somewhat limited by my age. It does not take much research into the lives of successful artists to understand that it can take decades to get recognition of their work beyond friends and relatives.  So that is a reality check.  I will take the time that is given to me, and try to make the most of it.  Although, writing blog entries does take me away from painting, I am discovering that it has made me slowly, a better writer. That also was once the dream to live the life as the  next Ernest Hemingway.

I will have more thoughts on this, but I would like to pause this line thinking (just go with it) and respond to this quote I heard today: In a segment of CBS Sunday Morning, about the artist Ai Weiwei, Kerry Brougher the Chief Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum said this:” His works are filled with questions. That is what great artwork does. It raises questions.  It doesn’t necessary answer them for you.  It makes you have to think about things” (my transcription. I regret the commercial. Go to just after 6 minutes for the quote).

First, the only show I know that consistently has segments on Art is CBS Sunday Morning. You can see people murdered all day long on multiple channels but the great many stories of hundreds of outstanding Artist is rarely being told.  So, I enjoyed this six-minute break.  Ai Weiwei, is a good artist that deserves recognition and success. Now, for the quoted lines from Kerry Brougher,  they make sense, and they make me stand back and look at my work, and wonder, what  questions  does my art offer?  Let me put it this way, this art is about displaying music without actually displaying real music.  Hum? That should raise some questions. If this art is about music, but is not music, what is it?  I am not sure. No wonder no one recognizes me. My art is an enigma.  I guess that sums it up. Hum? As far as Kerry Brougher’s line “It makes you have to think about things,” that is true about a lot of things, and not just art. I think about things all day long at work, that have nothing to do with art, so really does art have to make you think.  I am thinking most people would rather feel art.  In Mr. Weiwei’s situation, well explained, maybe the way to understand his art is to feel it from the perspective of his life in China.  That is good for him, but what about me.  My life is fairly ordinary, so in my case, to fill my artworks with questions, I need to do it emotionally, and that is why I paint music. OK  whoopee.  Here then is the issue with my art:  if a viewer understands music they try to analyze the flow of the notes across the canvas, which misses the emotional point of this art. If you do not read musical notation and have no clue what music it is, can that viewer feel the music it is depicting  just by looking at it? The answer is yes. This art is about music. And music stirs great emotions in billions of people.  And this art speaks to that, and if you see the music in the art, your hooked.

Scott Von Holzen