| I’ll talk about my attitude in using references, and then my “head” paintings, which can be perceived as quite different to my regular work. When you’re using pop imagery as a source, like I often do, I think it’s important to obtain ownership over the image in some way. By that I mean you have to make it yours. You have to drag it down below the surface, rough it up, give it depth. Too many artists feel it’s easy to manipulate pop art, but in fact they fall into a dangerous trap where their work is meaningless and confusing because they haven’t been able to control the very icons they’ve referenced. |
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Head Painting – Antony Micallef
I’ll talk about my attitude in using references, and then my “head” paintings, which can be perceived as quite different to my regular work.
When you’re using pop imagery as a source, like I often do, I think it’s important to obtain ownership over the image in some way. By that I mean you have to make it yours. You have to drag it down below the surface, rough it up, give it depth. Too many artists feel it’s easy to manipulate pop art, but in fact they fall into a dangerous trap where their work is meaningless and confusing because they haven’t been able to control the very icons they’ve referenced.
I feel it’s mostly about using the right contrasts. Iconic pop imagery, by its nature, is loaded with meaning. But, if you place something else right next to it, you can manipulate that and stir it in a way that could say something completely different. It’s a bit like DJ-ing a Paris Hilton lyric over the Nine inch Nails track, “I Want to Fuck You like an Animal,” or some such (great song by the way). In doing this, Paris’ words end up sounding completely different than they would otherwise.
As for the portraiture side of what I do, I’ve had people in the past ask me to paint them, but I always say no. The first reason is because I just find it really boring painting other people unless there is something genuinely interesting about them. And secondly, to paint a portrait of someone looking like a car crash victim is not particularly flattering. Seriously though, it’s not the portraiture I’m concerned about, it’s instead about the mark-making. It’s not about the painting looking like them or like me. I just see the face as a structure, a skeleton, like scaffolding for me to flesh out with what I find while drawing. In doing this, I use my own face, as it’s simply easier.
When I paint or draw a head, I might go through over 20 different faces, which each surface on the canvas while I’m etching it and rubbing it with paint and a cloth. They all have something special, but it’s just a matter of trying to find the right one that’s the difficult part. I destroy so many heads and sometimes it’s a shame to see them go, but if it’s not the right one, then I don’t keep them. It’s a very physical process, as I place the canvas on the floor and paint in front of a mirror (the heads are always done from life). I’m constantly picking up the canvas, turning it around, trying to control the drips and then throwing it down. This is very different from doing some of the other larger, more considered pieces that I create.
I feel it’s important to paint from life while I’m creating these heads, as it’s the only way to capture a visceral, fleeting glimpse that can be impossible to obtain from a photograph. The expression is what makes the painting breathe—so then it becomes something more than just paint. I was taught by John Virtue, who in turn was taught by Frank Auerbach, and I like the idea of this way of painting being passed down through the generations. They’re both artists whom I admire and I’ve learned a lot from looking at their work. When I was studying at college, John Virtue would come into my space and rip down any photos I had on the wall. It really pissed me off at the time, but I knew he was doing it for the right reasons. An efficient mark-maker can paint a face and express an emotion with four confident strokes, which then tells a story.
When someone buys one of my head paintings, it’s the biggest compliment of all. They don’t contain any of the bullshit that my larger paintings contain. If they buy it, it’s not about the colour of the picture matching their designer apartment, and they’re not buying it according to the message, trend or latest fashion either. They’re buying it purely for the painting, for the marks I’ve made on the canvas.
