Eric Joshua White, "The Huntington Library with Amy," Laemmle Claremont Theater, 9-17-2017.

hello all.  My picture is entitled "The Huntington Library with Amy."  I have separated this short talk into four parts: materials, methods, personal relevance, and symbolism.  These four parts ascend from the more mechanical and specific to the more conceptual and interpretive.  Before we get started there is a very important part of this that needs to be said about what I will describe to you.  The important part is that my analyses that are more to do with the symbolism of the picture are largely re-interpretive, that is they are after the fact looking at the picture again rather than the initial goals of the picture.  Typically and in this picture, I start the work with my esthetic of beauty and the limits of the materials and the scene to organize my efforts rather than focus on the symbolism and theory of the picture.  A fascinating result of putting together this short talk is that I think in the future I might work on some projects with the opposite process in mind and prioritize the meaning so to speak over the materials and the scene-at-hand.

Materials. 

I typically use a variety of pastels to capture the exact color component I am trying to portray.  This means a variety of brands.  However, in this picture I used Nupastel hard pastels to a greater extent than the other brands because of the tighter drawing requirements in the picture.  Canson mi-teintes paper is the support I used in this picture in blue or gray (I am sorry I did not note that when putting the frame together), but nonetheless, a paper with a color to it.  I believe I outlined the figure in some areas to make crisper the outline after the application of the pastel.  In the background can be seen a stippling or dotting technique in the foliage which creates an interesting contrast to the basic areas of color.  Pastel strokes are layered on top of each other and side-by-side to create more complicated colors that resonate both close-up and far away.

Methods.

In my pastel pictures of this period, I would often do a relatively tight pencil outline of the outside contours of the elements and occasionally demarcate the shadow line.  This technique is consistent with my line-based training from Charles Cecil Studios, Florence, Italy, that taught techniques of 19th-century ateliers.  As the training goes, then the shadows would be filled with  basic shadow color before moving on to the tone in the lights.  One virtue of this method I perceive is that the outline in captured faster than a mass approach with a minimum of erasures and unnecessary failed attempts at the form.  Mass approaches as well can create coloring outside the outlines that affect negatively later clean focus on the areas around the drawn elements.  I think this last insight is relevant to watercolorists who work with detailed drawings before they put in the various color tones.  

If you would place my picture next to a photograph of the same scene, you would see a great deal of differences in the various elements pictured.  It is not that I dislike photo-realism, it is rather that for the purpose of interest that I often will rearrange the elements of the work to suit my esthetic choices.  This process is partly conscious but not entirely.  My unconscious sense of what makes an effective or good picture is always active and plays an important part.

Harmony is one principle that is very important to my life and art.  In art, harmony can affect my decision about edges, application of the materials in similar versus different ways, the noticeability of each individual stroke at the expense of the whole, and also, in terms of design, harmony can affect where I place shapes so that they are not too close in awkward ways that take away from the primary center of interest and focus.  My pictures like this one reflect my interest in calm and peaceful viewing and thinking, creating a harmonious experience that is minimally distracting. 

Personal Relevance.

Most art in my life I believe has been a type of escape from the travails of the world and suffering.  I can fasten my attention on the task at hand and create from the elements of my mind combined with a scene before me or from my imagination a work that has the character of meditation and close scrutiny.  Art was also a way to learn about the outside world.  It was an opportunity to show mastery in a type of activity and gain the satisfaction from a job well-done that accompanies good work.  FInally, without sounding too glib, art gives great pleasure in its creation and viewing.  My style is whimsical to say the least and that reflects the entertainment I get from making and looking at art.

The day that Amy and I arrived separately at the Huntington Library seemed like any other California day with nice light.  I believe it was in the afternoon that I paid for her admission and we entered the Library.  Previously, she had mentioned at Art Center where she was posing that she really enjoyed the Huntington Library so I got the idea to have her pose there.  This was one of the first times I had worked with a live model all to myself and I was a little nervous but Amy seemed in a good mood so we walked to the veranda of one of the main house buildings and before I knew I looked peripherally to see Amy posing.  I took the photo.  And that was it.  I didn't realize until later that Amy touching the sarcophagus was probably forbidden, which was interesting in itself.

Symbolism.

the figure of amy

Although Amy and I are not close friends, she functions in the picture as a role model, adopting the identity of 'friend.'  Ami is the french word for friend.  Her presence balances the ominous character of the sarcophagus, symbolizing death and burial.  Female friendship for me is the life-giving force that I most crave, the caring natures that are necessary for growth in one's emotional and artistic lives.

the sarcophagus

The sculptural sections on the sarcophagus are the operative meaning centers for this element.   Specifically, I have idealized the relief content on the side of the sarcophagus to reveal three figures that each represent a character virtue.  On the left, with sword raised, is a fighter or paladin, an idealization of strength against evil and error.  In the center, a bullfighter, representing bravery and the conquering of fear and the unknown.  And on the right, a wizard, the symbol of wisdom and the virtue of years of productive contemplation of present and future things.  These masculine characters and the virtues they symbolize are offset or balanced perhaps by the touch of Amy, the female friend.  

the lawn

Although not exactly, the shape of the light on the lawn behind Amy takes on the character of the head of an arrow, pointing upward and to the right to the furthest extent of the horizon in the picture.  The arrow, to my mind, points to the future.

the horizon line division

In my work, horizontal and vertical lines can take on the character of axes of a graph or in the case of horizontal lines as just mentioned, the character of timelines.  Additionally, lines can demarcate separations of important areas of the picture.  In this picture, the lower concerns of the self, like Amy's body and dress, and the sarcophagus (perhaps symbolizing the limited material and mortal nature of life) occupy the lower part of the picture while Amy's head and the background vegetation might symbolize the higher concerns of the self, like thinking, the prioritization of the cognitive over the material through good concepts, and explorative activities that open our consciousness to new possibilities of perception and thought.

the background

You may think that my separation of the intellectual from the corporeal collapses because there is so much seemingly unimportant vegetation in the background.  But my analysis of the shapes of these trees and bushes seems to give me the sense that in the left upper part of the picture, the trees have taken on the form of the human brain perhaps, and the tree directly above Amy's head, to me, appears to have attached to it a strange booster rocket and appropriate smoke beneath the rocket and the booster.  Exploration of new realms and the intellectual power needed to accomplish this exploration represented by the tree-rockets seem to fit in the cognitive upper part of the picture.  These identities of objects may seem far-fetched and a stretch but they are operative for my sense.  Ultimately, if the scene did not produce the perfect illustration of my separation of higher and lower natures, it is too bad and a result of my literal tendency to reproduce what I see for the most part rather than suppress the true elements of the scene for the purpose of the symbolic ideas I wish to evoke.  I think the ideas of the symbols are the more important part of this picture rather than the literal reproduction of the Library's layout.  Yet, the goal perhaps of the entire act of art is to satisfy on all levels, from the material to the ideal, both through visual and cognitive apprehension.

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