Living on the Edge

Study of drapery folds was traditional discipline among the painters of Renaissance. This painting is my interpretation of white drapery under... more

by Dan Petrov

Original - Sold

Price

$1,800

Dimensions

20.000 x 16.000 inches

Title

Living on the Edge

Artist

Dan Petrov

Medium

Painting - Oil On Linen

Description

Study of drapery folds was traditional discipline among the painters of Renaissance. This painting is my interpretation of white drapery under specific conditions of cool north light.
Organic forms are there to produce the focal point, bring some strong chromatic notes and rhythm that correlates with the direction of the drapery folds. Texture of the subjects provides wide range of the values from the most intensive darks to the highlights.
Renaissance painters recognized seven different types of drapery. Very popular subject for training of apprentice was a clot suspended between two supporting points. My drapery represented in this painting resembles that one and also describes the folds that are consequential of the table top edge as the form under the drapery. All the front folds indirectly project that invisible form in relation to pictorial horizon line.
Another invention of the Renaissance era that I used in this painting is "chiaroscuro". Chiaroscuro is representation of the forms that are projected from the darkness into the light creating impression of very selective area exposed to the light. One of the major consequence of uniform dark background is strong projections of the forms and full span of values from the darkest dark to the lightest light. Caravaggio used this technique to project the human form in his paintings often creating some extreme foreshortening of the figure and unusual vintage point for the viewer.
All archaic oil painting techniques are very powerful and unjustly forgotten in contemporary painting. The same techniques prove to be very useful in modern subjects.

Uploaded

December 22nd, 2012