Motive for “WHEN IS NOW?”

Motive for “WHEN IS NOW?”

 

Drawing our present, our ‘now’, and watching it become our past.

Drawing someone is a very intimate and contemplative process, both for the sitter and for the artist. Quiet conversation during the drawing process can illuminate so much more about the sitter than just a drawing ever can. 
While I draw, I will record the conversations we have.  Who are they, how did they get to “now” and what do they think about it? What do they see in the immediate future?  The direction and content of each conversation will be entirely determined by the sitter.  The conversations will be kept private until 2030.

As the project goes on, the portraits and conversations from the early stages will already be part of the past.  How will the realities of the future present have changed? I will endeavour to choose a wide range of people, some known to me, and some not.
I want this to document, in the best sense of the word, the realities of individuals, their joys and their concerns, big and small.  The documentation will evolve with time.  Each person’s testimonies will be forever tied to their painted portraits, to be fully shared as a body of work in 2030.  Woven into the fabric of the project are little notes recording the events at that particular time, for context.

Later note – April 2020 – Coronavirus has now hit us.  Who could have thought it.  This will make the content of this project even more urgent and important.  During this period of lockdown, portraits are being drawn via Zoom, and so the final paintings are grittier, and that is appropriate.