Simon Stone - Studio Blue
Simon Stone
South African 1952-
Studio Blue
2007
signed and dated '07
oil on corrugated cardboard
31 by 21cm excluding frame; 50 by 38,5 by 5cm including frame
Literature
Lloyd Pollak (2013) Simon Stone: Collected Images, published to coincide with the exhibition Simon Stone: A Retrospective Exhibition, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, 9 July to 14 September 2013, Stellenbosch: SMAC Art Publishing, illustrated in colour on page 246.
In Studio Blue 2007, Stone trips the light fantastic, but the seemingly frivolous style masks serious intent. At first sight, the ample expanses of blue appear exhilarating, airy and uncluttered, creating an expansive feeling of freedom and release, however, closer scrutiny imparts a morbid cast to the painting which addresses the theme of the artist enslaved by the imperative thrall of the creative urge.
The figure's actions, and the impedimenta of his craft, the triangle, ruler and set square hanging on the black wall, identify him as an artist, and the setting as his studio. The green glass flasks on the white open shelves in the background too are indices of the self-referential nature of Stone's art. The hybrid figure combines aspects of the draftsman and the camouflage figure. The draftsman corresponds to a generic icon of the artist, and the uncomfortable pose bending down, and stretching out his right hand as he starts to make marks on the wall, like a fresco artist, is seen in many other paintings of this period. The camouflage figure is usually associated with psychological rebirth, but here, the costume is without the usual earth browns and plant greens. It has reminded commentators of the motley worn by the Pierrots and Harlequins in the Rococo painter Jean-Antoine Watteau's (1684-1721) melancholy evocations of the commedia dell'arte, and Stone's painting also recalls the sad clowns and saltimbanques who act as analogues of the alienated modern artist in the work of many fin de siècle artists including the youthful Picasso. Nevertheless the most significant aspect of the costume is that its blues, blacks and whites pick up on the colours of the studio, establishing a binding link between it and the figure.
Stone juggles with the viewpoint, perspective, scale and space in order to give the setting a contradictory character, at once unencumbered and spacious, yet suffocatingly claustrophobic at the same time. If one looks at the summit of the painting, the pale blue plane reads as a wall, and the slightly darker blue plane below it as a floor, creating an ample space. However at the painting's base, the dark blue describes the floor, and the lighter blue above it becomes two walls meeting in a corner. The square footage drastically contracts, holing the artist up in an oppressive cell without windows or doors.
There are two viewpoints. The viewer looks up at the open shelves, and down at the table top, artist and floor. The back leg of the table is missing, and it, as well as the triangle, ruler, set-square, and lamp, are far too large in scale relative to the artist. They dwarf him and assert a crushing presence. The clash of scale, the walls that turn into floors, and the floors that transmute into walls, steep Stone's seemingly jaunty confection in an atmosphere of nightmare. The unsupported table that should fall to the ground, continues to stand in defiance of the laws of gravity. The lamp cruelly mimics the pose of the artist, and angled toward him as if in pursuit, it appears to form part of some persecutory system of surveillance. The artist's gesture and stance are ambiguous. His fist appears to be clenched, and his pose is both that of an artist painting on a wall, and that of a person craning down to see why he is experiencing difficulty opening a door with a key. This suggests that the artist is attempting to take flight from the studio and escape the implacable demands of his creative drive.
Apart from the gestural improvisations, all the paintings discussed so far in this chapter seem to be the product of a far mellower frame of mind. There is no longer any concern with politics, and the public dimension disappears as the tone becomes quieter, more intimate and low-key. Stone's preoccupations are self-referential and, like the red paintings and still lifes, they revolve around art, art-making and the artist. Stone's years as a struggling artist were over, and by the late nineties, he enjoyed growing critical success. It was at this time, that his style of life too became more laid back. In 1996, the artist, his wife, Giovanna and their six year old daughter, quit Johannesburg and its pressures, and went to live a far more settled, family-orientated existence in Knysna, a coastal town in the Garden Route, Western Cape, which is renowned for the beauty of its forests, lakes, mountains and rivers.
-Lloyd Pollak
Simon Stone
South African 1952-
Studio Blue
2007
signed and dated '07
oil on corrugated cardboard
31 by 21cm excluding frame; 50 by 38,5 by 5cm including frame
Literature
Lloyd Pollak (2013) Simon Stone: Collected Images, published to coincide with the exhibition Simon Stone: A Retrospective Exhibition, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, 9 July to 14 September 2013, Stellenbosch: SMAC Art Publishing, illustrated in colour on page 246.
In Studio Blue 2007, Stone trips the light fantastic, but the seemingly frivolous style masks serious intent. At first sight, the ample expanses of blue appear exhilarating, airy and uncluttered, creating an expansive feeling of freedom and release, however, closer scrutiny imparts a morbid cast to the painting which addresses the theme of the artist enslaved by the imperative thrall of the creative urge.
The figure's actions, and the impedimenta of his craft, the triangle, ruler and set square hanging on the black wall, identify him as an artist, and the setting as his studio. The green glass flasks on the white open shelves in the background too are indices of the self-referential nature of Stone's art. The hybrid figure combines aspects of the draftsman and the camouflage figure. The draftsman corresponds to a generic icon of the artist, and the uncomfortable pose bending down, and stretching out his right hand as he starts to make marks on the wall, like a fresco artist, is seen in many other paintings of this period. The camouflage figure is usually associated with psychological rebirth, but here, the costume is without the usual earth browns and plant greens. It has reminded commentators of the motley worn by the Pierrots and Harlequins in the Rococo painter Jean-Antoine Watteau's (1684-1721) melancholy evocations of the commedia dell'arte, and Stone's painting also recalls the sad clowns and saltimbanques who act as analogues of the alienated modern artist in the work of many fin de siècle artists including the youthful Picasso. Nevertheless the most significant aspect of the costume is that its blues, blacks and whites pick up on the colours of the studio, establishing a binding link between it and the figure.
Stone juggles with the viewpoint, perspective, scale and space in order to give the setting a contradictory character, at once unencumbered and spacious, yet suffocatingly claustrophobic at the same time. If one looks at the summit of the painting, the pale blue plane reads as a wall, and the slightly darker blue plane below it as a floor, creating an ample space. However at the painting's base, the dark blue describes the floor, and the lighter blue above it becomes two walls meeting in a corner. The square footage drastically contracts, holing the artist up in an oppressive cell without windows or doors.
There are two viewpoints. The viewer looks up at the open shelves, and down at the table top, artist and floor. The back leg of the table is missing, and it, as well as the triangle, ruler, set-square, and lamp, are far too large in scale relative to the artist. They dwarf him and assert a crushing presence. The clash of scale, the walls that turn into floors, and the floors that transmute into walls, steep Stone's seemingly jaunty confection in an atmosphere of nightmare. The unsupported table that should fall to the ground, continues to stand in defiance of the laws of gravity. The lamp cruelly mimics the pose of the artist, and angled toward him as if in pursuit, it appears to form part of some persecutory system of surveillance. The artist's gesture and stance are ambiguous. His fist appears to be clenched, and his pose is both that of an artist painting on a wall, and that of a person craning down to see why he is experiencing difficulty opening a door with a key. This suggests that the artist is attempting to take flight from the studio and escape the implacable demands of his creative drive.
Apart from the gestural improvisations, all the paintings discussed so far in this chapter seem to be the product of a far mellower frame of mind. There is no longer any concern with politics, and the public dimension disappears as the tone becomes quieter, more intimate and low-key. Stone's preoccupations are self-referential and, like the red paintings and still lifes, they revolve around art, art-making and the artist. Stone's years as a struggling artist were over, and by the late nineties, he enjoyed growing critical success. It was at this time, that his style of life too became more laid back. In 1996, the artist, his wife, Giovanna and their six year old daughter, quit Johannesburg and its pressures, and went to live a far more settled, family-orientated existence in Knysna, a coastal town in the Garden Route, Western Cape, which is renowned for the beauty of its forests, lakes, mountains and rivers.
-Lloyd Pollak
