Good Vibrations

Vinyl records are making a comeback. According to Harper's Magazine sales have gone up 2,590% since 1993. People are rediscovering the authenticity and complexity of the sound. Sound waves cut into a master disc capture the physical vibrations of a moment. Working from the live model shares something with this old recording technique. In a life situation an artist captures impressions of a moment. There are no separating steps or technologies. You are drawing from the source not copying from one format to another.

Male Nude, oil on linen, 14" X 12", 2015

Analog recording never entirely went away but it survived only as a small subculture within the music industry. The discipline of life drawing and painting has a long history but currently survives as a minor movement in the cacophony of the contemporary art world.

From my narrow vantage point I can't say if live figurative work is experiencing a resurgence. Most large cities have long running live model venues. In my smallish town, over the thirty some years I'm aware of, figure groups have formed and dissolved multiple times. Working from life is a very challenging art form and that, as much as anything, will keep it rarefied. Still, there is nothing like the authenticity and complexity of working from a live model.