Life's Too Short For Nuance

These drawings are from last weekend’s heat wave. Well, it was actually the crest of a weeklong wave that had the UK bathed in sunshine and a temporary, if not illusionary sense that summer had not left us. For those here in August (I was in NY) it sounds like it was the summer weather that was poorly missing. Southsea beach in Portsmouth was more crowded than I have ever seen it and it was clear that many outsiders made a b-line for the beach, eager to savour every minute of the precious warm sun and air. So, beach goers were predictably in their swimming costumes and lying out like seals on rocks, limiting movements to occasional dips into the water (which for my unadventurous and feeble body was absurdly chilly). The human display was fantastic. It is too bad really that we only get to witness that parade of flesh on warm days. It is both a visual and intellectual treat (intellectual in that the informed viewer can see the display with some distance, a look at a species at play. Never mind we are one of them). The drawings largely drew themselves. Characters leapt into the sketchbook, demanding a rendering and asserting their existence. Tenderness is creeping more and more into my drawings. Times are tough and the pain is spread all around. While art is never beholden to societal expectation, I can’t help but feel more camaraderie with my fellow man as we all feel the tug of some impending crash or maybe flush, like a toilet. And with the value and relevance of art and art education being debated in society, it is ever more important to shout its contribution. Even when it is as simple as holding up a mirror to our own wonderful strangeness.

These drawings are from Southsea, the Isle of Wight and New York City. As diverse as these places are, there is the common thread of summer pastimes. For many, especially New Yorkers, the idea of free time is foreign so every moment of vacation/holiday is precious. Still, the ultimate goal of time off is to relax and when people let their hair down, I like to be there with pencil in hand. There is also something apolitical in my drawings this summer. Instead of my typical posture of ridicule and sneering cynicism, I feel real sympathy for my subjects, especially the Americans who have had a rough 3 years with economic doom at every corner. I realized as well that Americans are big hearted and kind people. It is a shame that the political face of the nation and our foreign policy has put the ugly american forward,  resulting in its true nature going unseen by much of the world. True there are still the nutcase right wingers and people with old hate in their hearts but much of that can be written off to pure ignorance and people pushed to the edges of society. The recent anniversary of 9/11 reminded me of course of the heartbreaking tragedy of the day but also, how proud I felt to be in a country that, when pushed to the brink, would take care of its own. It was a brief moment when America restored it’s moral place in the world, not by political action, but by honest to goodness citizenship. With so much petty political turmoil today, Americans forget that the country was founded on the principal that the people are running the show. 9/11 showed that when push comes to shove, our better instincts, our bravery, and big hearts rule the day.

The following drawings are from Portsmouth (Pompey) and surrounding areas. Portsmouth is a complicated city. It is really several distinct neighborhoods knitted together but not blended. The city has a multitude of textures from a seaside destination which is a favorite of locals and tourists alike, to a super mall (maze) in Gunwharf Quays, and a large council estate in the centre and north of the city. Within all of that are neighborhoods that draw sharp lines between rich and poor, student and non student and middle and working classes. With a strong naval history, Portsmouth has not shed the rough and tumble lifestyle of the sailor and in at least a few parts of the city, there is a menace and wildness that always feels like the dangerous hours of the early morning. Enjoy the ride.

This years beach drawings come from the upscale beach of Rehoboth Delaware. Unlike the unbridled un-girdled girth of Ocean Isle Beach, Rehoboth was filled with mostly attractive, well to do (at least better than most) people with enough money to pay for the overpriced beach side hotels and condos. Still, if you are looking closely, a kind of wildness is still bubbling under the surface. The elephantine bodies are still pounding the boardwalk and people are still staring off into the great ocean baking their bodies brown and leathered.

The beach still fascinates me. People are literally putting it out there, hanging their sins on their burdened frames like permanent luggage. Bathing suits just exacerbate the impression that they are bursting at the seams. Flesh is stuffed in colorful beachwear almost always failing at the goal of distraction.

Enjoy.

Every Thursday at the Society of Illustrators in NYC they have a costumed drawing session. This wonderful event in the magnificent society building is packed with seasoned and beginning artists. The tone was serious but breaks were relaxed with drinks and great conversation. The models were in Elizabethan garb. I couldn’t help but wonder how this decadence with it’s over the top dress and ornaments, was some flamboyant alarm for the impending collapse of the aristocracy (at least as an open institutional power). The same hubris of Wall Street (without the fancy dress) pointed to a collapse but again, we refused to see it. It seems denial is more seductive than reckoning. After the drawing session, I was walking the streets and noted another celebration of decadence, the opening of the latest Sex and the City movie. Like the wealth parade of the Elizabethan era, the Sex and the City girls flaunt excess and even shallow self involvement. Although all of this may seem out of sync with the times, in a city like New York, there are still plenty of people with plenty of money. You can bet when things get a little better, they will be back on the streets with their fancy dress and decadent displays, the scale of which we can only imagine. Well, minus the wigs of course.

This is what I drew. Enjoy.

Here is another comic. Enjoy. Please feel free to comment. I would love to know what you think.