v. Paintshooter Carl Beck
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The next piece in the Mirror Mirror series. Acrylic paint and watercolor on A3 sized Hahnemühle torchon paper.
You can buy the piece here:
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Photographer Bent Rej opened his exhibition of Rolling Stones photos at Martin Asbæk Gallery yesterday. Bent shot his photos of the Stones back in 1965-66 when they weren’t yet renowned as one of the worlds greatest rockbands.
A few years ago I received 6 limited edition prints from this series as a gift. They now adorn the walls of my apartment and I can’t walk to the kitchen without getting a cheeky grin from Mick.
I think the great quality of Bents photos lies the intimacy they possess. They feel private, much different from the usual ad smiles I see on every billboard. They feel like the family portraits that also hang in the hallway of my aparment.
Intimacy is hard to come by as a photographer. But when the photographer turns subject and snaps a photo in the mirror, things start to get intimate. There’s something else present – that which escapes the photographer. A moment of solitude and privacy. When published, this kind of photo reveals what the subject wishes, not the photographer. This is true exhibitionism.
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I just got back to the studio after a few days of cash generation – teaching in the auditorium.
This morning my throat felt sore from a cold, and all I could think of was getting some more sleep. It’s been raining for 3 days and it wasn’t looking any better today…
But I had been missing my studio… It’s been too long since I actually got some drawing done, and still admin keeps creeping up on me.
In between teaching, I have been working on improving the blog with image galleries and an e-Store facility. The work is still not complete, but I can’t wait to have it up and running.
I am alone in running every aspect of my career as an artist, and so some of the “non-creative” work entails setting up email campaigns, writing, designing and operating the blog, learning CSS coding, arranging my own exhibitions, etc. etc..
It’s actually liberating at times to have some meaningful work when I’m not painting, but right now I’m beginning to feel distracted from my art.
The days when I create are the best. Nothing beats having produced a new piece and being able to show it here on the blog. I feel proud to wear my title as artist those days. Vanity is a strong motivation for action, and painting is my mirror. So today I thought I’d draw from that source of inspiration.
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| “Enough!” from Sketches By Carl Frederik Waage Beck |
I have been working on the upcoming limited edition prints today, setting up my favourite paintings in the studio, first photographing and then later retouching them in Photoshop.
I am comfortable taking photos and will often bring my precious Canon 7D whenever I’m out on a trip or just feel like seeing life through a lens.
I have chosen to shoot solely with prime lenses since these give me the highest sharpness and speed for the buck. At some point I hope to get my hands on Canons revered L series Zoom lenses, but for now my primes do fine. I have two primes: a 35mm and a 50 mm which in most instances works fine as long as I can sneaker zoom.
To get superb sharpness and avoid shaking I mount the 7D on a Gitzo GT3541L tripod with an Arca Swiss Monoball Z1 head. There’s just nothing that will make this combination fail it’s job.
The Gitzo lets me level the camera at just about any height and angle while the Arca has a smooth grip as tight as a vise.
Shooting with a tiny Canon shutter release remote means I can avoid even the tiniest vibrations from my hand.
I love the feel of quality equipment.
Retouching and preparing photos for prints is another matter though.
My skills in Lightroom and Photoshop are still feeble and even simple tasks take ages for me to complete. Of course none of it would be possible unless I had consulted hours of tutorials on youtube and elsewhere. Thanks to all you teen wizkids!
Still it’s frustrating and I feel like I am wasting time. Nothing pisses me off like wasting time – as it’s the only truly finite resource that I have.
I hate myself on days when, instead of painting or drawing, I spend more time trying to work out how some widget or miserable little function works in photoshop.
Today was one such day. Made me want to break free from the bonds of my Mac.
Made me want to go back to basics – and paint.
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I have been working on some sketches lately, trying to draw the perfect female face. I keep returning to the female body for inspiration, always something or someone new to paint and draw. The motif never gets old. To me at least.
Some features just appeal to me. Maybe it’s some darwinian mechanism. Maybe I’ve just been taught by the ad-industry. The end result is the same. Some proportions I just find pretty.
Working the internet in my quest to examine this I came across a set of facial proportions that supposedly would yield the perfect face. Apparently I am not alone in my perception of what is beautiful since I find the end result quite appealing.
The creepy thing about this girl, is that she might as well have existed in real life, but doesn’t. Only on paper.
Ideal proportions are a thing of the imagination, real beauty exists in the real world.
I realize now, that I often start a new piece when I can manage to blend reality and imagination.
Enjoy the result below:
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| “I only exist on paper” from Sketches By Carl Frederik Waage Beck |
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Founder of the "Copenhagen Stuckists", Carl Beck has since 2005 emerged as a controversial community activist artist working under the pseudonym "Paintshooter"
As a former FX-trader in the global currency markets, Carl Beck has now turned his attention to the individual in a globalized world. The work of Carl Beck has hung in group and solo shows in Denmark and France. 
