Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2006 - (Page 73) “In one block there’s enough material for artists in a lifetime, but I don’t see anybody out there doing this. I’ve seen photographers out there but there are very few easels out there.” so incredibly different,” he says. “Even the dog days of summer never seem to be the quite same. I like to seize that moment in my mind and paint it. I love to work that way and feel my brain twist like a sponge, especially when you’re having a good day.” To capture those moments, he prefers, surprisingly, to paint with oils “wet on wet,” layer upon layer before each application of paint dries. “Oil is the ideal medium for working fast,” he claims. “I just apply a thin underpainting and then paint more lusciously on top of that. It’s a terrific medium for making succinct, one-sitting statements. I have to quickly grasp the subject as a whole before it changes. When successful, what I produce is a very simple statement that gives the illusion of being complex because your mind fills in the details. This type of painting seems so alive and real because it works just the way your eyes do.” How long Sandusky will continue to find inspiration among the ruins remains to be seen. “The sense of urgency is beginning to wane,” he says. “I’ve said what I’ve wanted to say and now I’m trying to look deeper. When I started doing these paintings, I hit every other one. I’m now back to one out of four or five. It’s depressing. You have this focus, this high and now I’m coming down. I’ve painted the most dramatic scenes. My paintings of two days ago are not as dramatic as ones three weeks ago. You’re dealing with a short time frame. It’s been an explosion of work.” LCV John R. Kemp is Deputy Director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and author of the new book Rolland Golden: The Journeys of a Southern Artist (www.pelicanpub.com). – Phil Sandusky Spring 2006/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 73 http://www.pelicanpub.com http://www.pelicanpub.com
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