Speaking the Unspeakable.

Uncanny Valley Baby Dalek

This post is a 'work in progress'...

I'm not much of a writer or blogger for that matter, so I hope you'll hang in there with the posts that follow about this painting. I've found myself in the strange position of trying to tell the story of a picture in the making without giving away anything about its design. The picture has to remain a surprise for the friends it is being painted for, but I think that could mean a pretty dull series of posts until it is complete. You've been warned. Until then I'll talk about the materials used and any technical problems I face. I'll take pictures along the way that I can post later. Once this picture is finished, I'll explain the processes as they led to its completion.

I'm aiming for the highest degree of realism I've ever painted. That's tricky, as I explained to an art teacher friend of mine today, that's extremely difficult and NOT just for the technical hurdle that you might imagine. Friends send me pictures all the time of realistic paintings. But I don't think anyone quite understands what I am looking for in a picture.

When a painting is too like a photo - it might as well be a photo. While a painting painted from a photo (that's not quite as good as a photo)...might be better off not being painted at all.

Photographs are flat.

A camera has 1 eye, we have 2. Moreover those two eyes give us a confused series of images that our imaginations arrange, organise and sort out. The discrepancies between those different images are the reality (in glorious 3D) we hold in our minds.

TEST: Fix your eyes on some objects near you, look with both eyes. Close one and observe. Now do the reverse and observe with the other eye. Keep switching. You will notice the differences between the shapes, differences in placement of those objects. They MOVE, seem to jump. As you paint a picture from life you rely on these two images, the final version in your painting is a combination of the two. The difference between these views, that of your left and right eye, is 3D in your imagination only.

Am I talking bxxxxxxs?

Maybe. If, that is, what you want is a 'realistic' likeness of someone - then take a photo or have an artist paint them or take a photo and have an artist paint from that photo.

BUT, the real problem behind true REAList painting today is the same problem designers working on androids are now experiencing. It is known as the Uncanny Valley. In painting the problem is due to an over reliance on photography. The images are too real, too 'fixed'. This is especially obvious in portraits that show the subject doing something that we all know is a fleeting momentary thing, such as laughing or a broad smile. This is a purely personal opinion and something I discovered after painting a very realistic smiling face.

The Uncanny Valley: 'The theory holds that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers.'  - Wikipedia

The best paintings I have seen manage to look real, seem to emit light, while not being so tied in to the details as to appear false or 'uncanny', nothing too sharp or exact is in these pictures. They allow for movement, this is why impressionism is so special. Impressionism has built in 'wiggle room' for the human imagination...just squint your eyes. Shut them down a little, what's not there offers a greater 'reality'.

A perfect example in portraiture would be 'Lady Agnew', a close study of this lady shows a softness of touch that few artists manage. I would love to have seen Sargent paint. This photo does no justice to this painting. When I last saw her the gallery had placed a couch adjacent to the picture, I studied it for an hour. It's simply astonishing. If you find yourself in Edinburgh, there is no excuse to miss this treasure, it's slap bang in the city centre - go and see her.

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw by J S Sargent

This is very much a post in the making, I'd welcome any thoughts you may have on this page and will explain and clarify further these ideas at a later date...(Sadly I've just run out of time and have to hit the road... but next time I'll talk a little about what I think of as an incredible contribution to art from Marcel Duchamp)  Thanks for reading.