"A la Degas"

(oil painting on cardboard, 28X60, 2000)

"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."
Edgar Degas

"What I am seeking is not the real and not the unreal but rather the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctive in the human race."
Amedeo Modigliani

I called this painting "A La Degas", although, a more proper name for it would have been “a la Degas and Modigliani”, since the only thing that it has in common with Degas' work is the subject matter, while the style mostly resembles Modigliani. This resemblance didn’t occur on purpose. I never try to imitate other artists on purpose. It just happens...

When I'm tired I tend to paint in a semi-comatose state. Sometimes I’m so disconnected from what I’m creating that I might as well be painting a fence. Examining it afterwards can be quite an adventure because it gives me an opportunity to trace it back to where in my mind it came from. I discover bits and pieces of my memory that somehow made their way onto my canvas and I often end up recognizing one or the other artist’s influence in my work. Although, as a child I had little access to the original work by modern art masters, my family had a number of art books containing reproductions, which imbedded themselves into my subconscious. So once in a while my subconscious pays homage to Modigliani or Degas without my conscience being aware of it.