6 Autobots
allhailgrimlock

Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

I'm a well read grad student who's bluntly honest about all things, although I try to be most honest about myself.   

Currently reading

Separate Orbits
Yael Mermelstein
Progress: 119/427pages
BATMAN #53 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman53, TomKingBatman53
BATMAN #54 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
MattWagnerBatman54, TomKingBatman54
BATMAN #52 ((DC REBIRTH)) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman52, TomKingBatman52
BATMAN #51 ((DC REBIRTH)) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman51, TomKingBatman51
Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer (2018) #1 (of 2)
Al Ewing, Humberto Ramos
Champions (2019-) #4
Jim Zub, Jacinto Benavente
SUICIDE SQUAD #46 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
JosLuisSS46, RobWilliamsSS46
SUICIDE SQUAD #45 ((SINK ATLANTIS)) ((DC REBIRTH )) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
JosLuisSuicideSquad45, RobWilliamsSuicideSquad45
Champions (2019-) #3
Jim Zub, Jacinto Benavente

Beautiful art, that lacks the soul of Barker's work...

Haunted Shadows - John Bolton, Neil Gaiman

Bolton is undoubtedly talented: his use of color and his compositions are impeccable.   His  combination of hyperrealistic art and fantastically unrealistic subjects make for a startling and thought provoking combination, but herein lies the one fault I can find, and the one that made me knock down one star. 

 

And it is, to be honest, a problem I encounter often with super realistic art.   The focus on technique and realism leach some of the emotive aspect of much art for me.  While a beautiful object, something more abstract tends to move me more.   The techniques Bolton uses are amazing, and again, he's quite talented, but the pure emotion found in Barker - or even Royo's work, since I'm currently reading an art book by him as well - are lost.   (Royo is a special case.   If anything, more realistic than Bolton, he still manages to capture that pure emotive state.   Top notch work.)

 

In some cases, the horrors - demons of different varieties, at least one witch, and many vampires abound here - are screaming or smiling or laughing.   I can see that, but in Royo and Barker's work, I can feel it.   I couldn't here.   I wanted to, and I tried.   But I just could not.   

 

And as I flipped through the pages, trying to work through that technique, I got sightly frustrated at not being able to catch some whiff of emotion from these.   And I got frustrated because I prize Bolton's artwork so highly.   It is beautiful, it is made with such loving care, that I yearn to feel the same way I do about some of my other favorite artists: I want to be swept away by fear or horror or pleasure.   

 

Instead, I'm left coldly noting the patterns and colors, the way the subjects are positioned, the whole composition of the piece, and analyzing it.   It's good enough that it deserves this, and it's good enough that it deserves more; it deserves for me to look at it, and feel and react emotionally.   And if Bolton pulled away from technique slightly and focused more of the emotive side of painting, I think he'd manage it. 

 

Maybe it's the gas mask that's hindering him, although he claims he can't paint without it on.   It focuses him, but from what I can see he speaks of art as more technique and not instinct.  Barker, while well practiced and dedicated to his visual art, spoke of it coming from a place of instinct and emotion.   It makes sense that I get more emotion from him to me, because it's the place that he comes from. 

 

And while I can't say I admire Bolton's artwork enough, I also find myself missing that emotive and instinctual work.   

 

Also, I can't find anything about the gas mask online, but this is the second time I've heard about it.   I read it in Harlequin in English and now in French.   But it's been blessed by the Pope and  the Dalai Lama and the Supreme Sanguifex of the Clinical Brethren.   He claims it's shamanic, and it's a necessity.   I personally think it's kind of out there, but if it helps him, more power to him.   Also a fun story to tell here, and nothing that he was shy about in at least two biographical interviews.