Major Works

[Newberry]

I revisiting and writing short comments about my artworks.I just uploaded this 1990 image and comment to my site, www.michaelnewberry.com

Michael Newberry, Ascension Night, 1990, oil on linen, 58 x 42 inches Sold

Ascension Night is about my sense of seeing light. It may only be a small flicker of light, but I am drawn into its vibration, and the feeling is as if I and the universe begin to rotate around each other in a spiral movement toward the light source. For a painting with such a metaphysical theme, the image of the man is a very solid form.

The man was created from studies of working with a live model. My perspective for most of the pose was from an outrageous view point: I was standing on a large table with my easel, looking almost directly straight down at the model on the floor. For the study of his head, arms, and torso, he posed on his knees with a sever twist and arch. For his legs, we had to change my view point and his pose to a radically different angle, so that I could draw the muscle tension in his legs as he lifted each into the air. The muscle tension when lifting vs. sitting is completely different. If I had drawn his legs as he was kneeling, none of this pose would have felt natural. I also had to move the light source accordingly.

For the details of the hands and feet, I posed for them using a mirror, again simulating and rotating the pose and light so it all felt real when the separate elements came together.

Ascension Night is in a private collection in Athens, Greece.

www.MichaelNewberry.com

Edited October 3, 2009 by Newberry