Motherwell, Part 2

Last week, for my third Motherwell session, there was a nude drawing class in the room next door. Oddly, the adjoining door remained open. I couldn't help but to steal a glance from time to time. I only saw an elbow and leg, but wanted so badly to cross over and check out their scene. I thought about pretending I needed to borrow a stapler. The model was a nondescript young woman in striped socks. I saw her enter the classroom in a robe prior to class. I contemplated how desperate for spending money I would need to be in order to stand boldly naked in front of strangers in a drafty old warehouse.

Before our lesson, Teacher had us create another automatic drawing. Then we were told to use paint to create shapes from our drawings. There was no prelude to class, no lesson or chit chat. Okay then!

When we completed this assignment, Teacher told us about Motherwell's collages. Teacher said Motherwell was critical of one of his contemporaries (I think he said Jackson Pollock) for his practice of tearing paper and walking all over his canvases. Motherwell at first thought this disrepectful to art but soon saw things differently. His collages are about destroying and recreating. Motherwell said "Putting forth effort into destroying something can make you sensitive to its qualities just as much as one's love of it." This was the premise behind his collage-making. Teacher instructed us to cut up our paintings - cut them up and reconstruct them into collages.

The art of abstract expressionists expressed the angst and chaos of the times in their art. Atomic bombs, cold wars and destruction shaped their thinking. Cutting and tearing was an expression of the destruction the world and creation of new reality. What would my new reality be?

I spread out the black cut-outs I had made and looked at them. What a mess. Some of the pieces were angular like ribs; others were curved like kidneys. The pieces seemed to be forming a human figure right in front of me. I would make my own model not unlike the naked woman next door. Mine would not have socks on. Using glue sticks - I can't imagine that any great work of art was ever assembled with glue sticks - my Motherwell Man was born.

I used Teacher's stash of magazines to give my collage texture and color. I had a really good time! Next week is the last class - Booooo!!!