Alex Emsley: Upon the dull earth dwelleth - SOLD
Emsley, Alex ( 1973)
Upon the dull earth dwelleth - 2016
Oil on linen
40 x 40 cm
Signed bottom left
Sold - 2016
I believe that the skill of a painter, or the success of a completed painting, is inextricably linked to effort. I am convinced that a painter can only reap what they have sowed - but that this phenomenon is governed by a “law of increasing returns”. Through decades of sustained effort, a painter can learn how to produce the desired results with less and less effort. I feel that the term: “master” is often misused by those who assume that a painter can reach a point at which he or she has nothing left to learn. But such a point can never be reached. We all remain students until the last brushstroke of our last painting. Those few individuals who become “masterful” at their craft - the “masters” - have learned how to produce the results with minimal effort. They make it look easy because, after decades of toil, it has become easy. In my opinion, a “masterpiece” is an example of this phenomenon. It is a work imbued with genius, yet it seems void of effort. An amusing legend about Picasso, whether true or not, alludes to this law. He was approached by a passerby, who asked him to draw something on a paper napkin. Picasso took a few seconds to sketch the woman’s profile, handed it to her and asked for a large sum of money in return. “But this only took a few seconds!” she exclaimed. “Yes,” Picasso replied, “but it took me a lifetime to learn how to do it in a few seconds.”
- AE