RE: "Prima Ballerina" - large oil painting with black and white color only
Ooooh! This image has such a different tone to it being black and white vs your usual playful colors. Your usual elements of mechanical and flesh are there, but it somehow seems much more intimate being closer in and seemingly dimly lit with all the b&w shadow work. And I'm fascinated that this is essentially all white paint meticulously applied on dark canvas. Really incredible! Beautiful work Reinhard. 🙏🏽✨
Oh and I love how you explain tHe elements here, like what the gears and cloth represent. I think you usually leave that to viewer interpretation? But this time it's nice to see into your mind.
One thing I can't figure out is the hand. Her thumb would be on the top of her hand vs the bottom as it's shown, and you don't make mistakes like that. So the hand representing control is that of someone else back in the shadows...?
Yes, quite different indeed... it was actually a task given by the Libellule group for another exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. We got the size and the painting had to be black and white... so, grayscale in the end, but I took it literally 😇
Normally I don't give much of an explanation, as I like the "uninfluenced" interaction. To me the piece of art is not only what the artist creates, but also what the viewer (or listener) perceives. I find it very interesting and inspiring to hear about this other half. I explained the elements this time, because they all have a specific meaning and it would probably be hard to figure out these personal "symbols".
Great observation with the hand, I think most people don't even notice... which is something I like to do. Paint something in a way that it looks right, when you first see it, but then you hesitate and your eye gets "trapped" to take another look, to figure out, why something doesn't fit or work. So yes, it could not possibly be her hand, even if it was her right hand, she wouldn't be able to have it there in this position. Its more of a metaphor for control... on many levels. Of course, the control, a dancer needs to have over the body.. comparable to you, when you practice yoga. But like there, it takes more than just that. You need control over your mind and then there is the "theater", a job, or a business, that all has to be orchestrated and directed properly... and the thought of someone else in the shadows is also there, since the ballerina, no matter what her position is, is under control of others to a certain degree..
Yay me on noticing the hand! ☺️😆 It is actually possible that it's hers...if she loops her right arm behind her back and then externally rotates her forearm positioning the thumb downwards. (I just experimented and tried to figured that out myself. It is like a twisted yoga bind.) Anyways...I love that you included that witty surprise element in the image.
Again, I got to enjoy a deeper peek into your mind as you further explained your intentions for the symbols in the artwork. Even more with your musings on the element of control issues, or "who's running the show" regarding the ballerina and the show. She's like a wind up music box ballerina in a way...when the curtain goes up and the music goes on, based on years of training and practice plus neurological and physiological patterns that develop as a result - she is triggered to perform. Almost on auto pilot...she can't help herself.
But was that result her doing? Or that of others? In other words is that hand in control hers, or that of some "other" in the shadows. Or both?
I should have remembered, that if there was anyone who could do the trick with the hand, it would be you! Too bad, sean-king wasn't there to take a picture, when you did your experiment.
Again, you put it all in such beautiful words. I like your comparison with the music box and the mechanical parts would point in such a direction as well. You describe the ballerina's appearance on stage exactly the way I thought of it!
Is it all the result of her doing? I deliberately left it open, who's hand it really is... hers in a wild and sort of contorted position? Or just the person moving a handle in the background... I think there are many for it all to work.
❤️