JustMeMike’s New Also on Video

So today is Labor Day and is a National Holiday in the USA. This fact is sort of misleading as most shops are open for business, as are movie theaters, bars, and restaurants. Many people will be working. Taxi drivers, bus drivers, and the rail, water, and air transportation systems will all be manned and operating so we can get to where we want to go. The painting below is called Archlight and this is a woman ‘working hard’ at resting. It is by Gabriel Picart, as are all the paintings on this page.

If you want to go to a baseball game on Labor Day, you will be able to buy peanuts, hot dogs, and beer at the stadium. A ticket seller, an usher, a scoreboard operator, and many vendors will be at work at stadiums on Labor Day. These people will be working to enable us to enjoy ourselves or just rest at home like the woman in Cherubs below.

So why do the rest of us get the day off to relax, have fun, and so forth? Well maybe the answer to this is that the business of America is business. Maybe this holiday was created to allow the owners of many businesses to give the workingman a thank you in the form of a day-off. Check out Crane Shawl below. No doubt a shawl like that is the fruit of someone’s labor, as are all of our clothing.

A show of appreciation, or, as you more cynical people are thinking, the big bosses want the workingman to continue to work at maximum efficiency, therefore an extra day of rest can only help. Doesn’t Eve (below) look well rested?

Maybe we should ask Henry Ford, who created the assembly line to turn out one Model T Ford automobile after another, his thoughts. He figured, and correctly, that anyone could turn a screwdriver, or tighten a bolt, once every few minutes, repeatedly, day after day, and this would increase production. But Mr Ford is no longer with us. This lady in Light and Shadow (below) will be with us for quite some time.

So let’s switch gears — and talk about a different kind of production, one that does not involve an assembly line. There’s an artist from Barcelona, Spain, named Gabriel Picart. He is best known for his paintings of women in white dresses as well as shawls. The paintings are highly prized; and are sought after and found in collections located all over the world. Why? Maybe Picart himself (below) can provide an insight.

Picart says…

The difficulty of making realistic paintings is that they are absolutely transparent to the viewer and any small mistake in the execution is easily detectable. Thus, when they involve the human figure, my favorite subject, and the most difficult challenge that painting has to offer, the road to success becomes very demanding. The human figure is the acme of painting art and a must for any artist willing to face the most — a “must” that is if he wants to make progress in his technique.

We see the evidence of this in the exactness and details. Look at the detail in the dress in the painting called Minorcan Walk (above). We love these painting because they represent the beauty of the human form, the exquisiteness of the act of looking at women, and these paintings make us feel so good.

Take note of the flowers in each painting. Above is Quietness. See the use of light to highlight the lush skin tones. Appreciate the detail in getting those dresses to fold and bunch in just the right way. And don’t fail to notice the contentment and peace visible in each model’s face. Or for more details, check out the mosaic tiles, and the highlights in the model’s hair in Purpura (below).

In the words of Kevin Zweyer Anderson, of the Anderson Galleries of Beverly Hills, CA…

The true magic of his art comes from within, from the profound personal investment he makes in each and every painting before it leaves his studio. In an increasingly frenetic and complicated world, few of us make life worth living. Thank you, Gabriel Picart, for sharing your world with us.

And there it is. The profound personal investment of inspiration, and labor, and the time and energy needed to complete each project. Looks like the model in Sleepiness (above) has run out of energy, as has the woman (below) in The Arcade - but aren’t these wonderful paintings?

 

On this Labor Day Weekend, we can celebrate the wonders of a magnificent artist, and his vibrant and powerful art, as we enjoy a day of rest from our own daily labors, or simply enjoy the aromatic fragrances like the woman in Tuscan Flowers (below).

As this is AoV, we also like looking at women sans clothing. So don’t wait until next Labor Day to drop in again.

To look at more lovely women like the woman in the painting above, Woman and Branch; to see them dressed in their white dresses amidst the flowers, or to look at some other women, most likely with less clothing, visit us often. You know what I mean?

This article was originally published In Also on Video on September 4th, 2004. It has been updated for publication in JustMeMike’s New Also on Video on September 3rd, 2007.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 3rd, 2007 at 5:49 am and is filed under Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.