“Aliens Invade” – 2006 – Mixed Media (Spray Paint, Inks, Acrylics on canvas) – 60 x 90cm – BUY NOW
 

Art for art’s sake I suppose!

As an artist, one of the most frequent questions i get asked about my art is: “what is the meaning?”…The other question is “how long did it take?”… The truth is not everything i paint has a “meaning” and pretty much every canvas i paint has a really surprising range of time applied to it…. This particular alien themed canvas doesn’t have any meaning (none that i’m aware of anyway) – however if you find meaning that’s fine! I don’t discourage you to applying a meaning of your own. The Canvas which I have titled ‘Aliens Invade’ – a theme and title that only came about after I had painted the said canvas, was created using mixed media (spray paint, ink, acrylics and alcohol).

Some of the canvas pieces I start never seem to finished, in other cases take me weeks of deliberation and planning even before applying any paint or mark to the canvas, other canvases seem to get filled and finished in a flash. This piece which i have titled “Aliens Invade” is one of those canvas pieces that i did in next to no time at all. There was not a moments planning, there were no pre-thoughts, themes or ideas to go with i just literally picked up the canvas and started painting…

How was it made?

I started by priming the 60cm x 90cm canvas with white primer spray paint and added some basic green tinting also with spray paint. The next stage was to draw onto it using a selection of marker pens and inks which I then diluted with alcohol. I repeated the process a few times until I was happy with what was emerging from the unidentified blobs of colour. I treated the whole exercise of painting this canvas in a much laid back sketch book kind of way, make marks and see where it takes me. I think this distinct lack of pressure alone can be very conducive to a great final painting, on the other hand, sometimes the stress of the deadline harnesses a focus to finish feeling that painting for personal pleasure does not bring. Once I had got all my basic shapes in check I started to outline the emerging shapes and forms using permanent black markers and I even used an ink biro, which is not something I usually do but it came out nicely.

Normally as you can see on other posts i document the process of the actual painting and creation of the art piece, in this instance i wouldn’t have even had the time to charge the camera battery!

I literally created this canvas from start to finish in around 2-3 hours… However though it took me such a short time to paint doesn’t in my opinion devalue its worth, both financially and emotionally any less. It’s actually one of my personal favourite canvas pieces I have ever painted… but now that you the reader, know how long it took me to paint, how does that affect your response to the piece?

This I think raises interesting ethical questions when it comes to valuing a piece of art. Is the value of the canvas art to be based on the amount of time it took to paint? Or is it something much more or else than that? If you are interested with my thoughts on the subject check out this blog article. XXX

Back to the Aliens at hand

This article was written very much in the same vein as this canvas was painted. I started writing as I started painting, I had a rough goal, to write, to paint. The more I was doing, the more it became fleshed out, the more I found conclusion in what I was doing. I found the direction and end goal while I was in the process of creating. The result was pleasing and so was the process…

The bottom line, I did sell the canvas, I didn’t price it any lower or more than I would any of my other paintings. I value it based on how good I thought it was, it was a very emotional decision, I told the buyer the same story. He didn’t seem to mind much, he was happy to acquire it, what happens next to the value of it is as much up to me the artist and him the owner. If I become highly recognized artist sure the value of the art will increase, but if the owner does not take care of the art piece and destroys it all bets are off!

To see more canvas art I’ve created check this link. Or click here to go back to the portfolio.

Thanks for reading, if you have any comments or question get in touch with me below or shoot me and e-mail.

Vinni Kiniki 2014

 

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