Dennis Hollingsworth

Kiko's Retrato

There's so much I would like to blog that much of it gets away, even when I am back in LA with double internet DSL lines at home and the studio. Here's one blogpost that almost fell off into the depths of my iPhoto files: a night of painting Kiko's portrait (retrato) when Henry was here a few weeks ago.

A few pics follow with words jotted furtively along the way....

The idea was to ask Kiko to model for us --Henry, Alberto and myself-- for an evening that began with a bar-b-que and a session of painting that lasted until almost five in the morning. As what is becoming my habit, I took the opportunity to explore the characteristic working methods of my compatriots, to see if I can find a way to "break the egg" (a phrase we used byHenry and I when we critiqued Alberto's recent work talking about the need to overcome one's p.o.v. in order to grow into a new one).

So before I got into it, I worked my fingers loose with a couple of sketches of Henry as he was reading about young Picasso in Barcelona.

Funny, Kiko wore his "Are You Sure?" t-shirt.

Good one, Kiko.

The pallette is Henrys'. The other paintings on paper are Alberto's.

Fruit of a night's work.

Henry's painting. (I have yet to get a foto close up of mine, I'll append it to this post asap. We gave Kiko the whole night's production to say thanks.)

The best part of a night like this is the long view after the action is over.

What became interesting is how, while Henry apparently traffics in the representational way, his work actually wheels about on a psychological axis. I felt a prisoner of the mechanics of representation in the work I did that night and it was a revelation to see Henry first record what he saw and then record what he felt, editing and revising his composition as he went. I recall The Mystery of Picasso, how the revisions were a graphic tell of his search. I also recall Henry talking about hwo his aunt came to him in a dream after she passed away, telling him sternly to "Tell the truth, Henry. Tell the truth."

Ah so he did.

And so shall I in my own way.