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'Be' by Eric J. Drummond
🕑 Added 2021-04-25 17:00:04 +0000 UTCThis weeks’s Spotlight on Art features ‘Be’ by FAA Alumnus Eric J. Drummond.
Eric’s passion for figurative art and portraiture leads him to search for truth in his work, and working from life with live models is an essential aspect of his practice.
We had the pleasure to interview Eric last year and today, we have asked Eric a few questions about how this portrait came to ‘Be’.
Click here to watch our video ART TALK w/ Eric J. Drummond
Eric J. Drummond
'Be'
Oil on canvas, 85 x 105 cm
2020
Tell us about this artwork and where you created it.
A portrait of a contemporary young Black Woman. I worked with a local model I came in contact with over social media. Her name is Lydia Mehari, and around February I asked her if I could have her pose for a painting. Unfortunately Covid hit the globe and I wasn’t allowed access to my studio for a time, so it wasn’t until June that I could finally work with her.
What was the inspiration behind it?
If I can be blunt, I simply love to paint. I didn’t have a preconceived notion of what I wanted her to do. I found so many interesting qualities about Lydia. The inspiration for this piece sort of manifested as I kept working with her.
The great thing about working with Lydia, was how open and contrasting our dialogues were. We have very different tastes, but we collaborated here.
Tell us about your process.
I did some preparatory sketches of her portrait, and a charcoal value sketch of the general pose. But the big difference in this work was giving her control of her representation.
I met with Lydia in my studio for the first time and explained how we would set up, how long we would probably be working together, etc. But I asked her to pick her outfit, do her hair the way she wanted, and pick her jewelry.
After each session I had her explain what she thought of herself and the painting. I wanted her to really guide me on how she wanted to be represented. With this considered, it really is a collaborative piece between me and her.
Tell us about the light in your studio.
The light in my studio I think is my favourite aspect about my working space. It both provides me with a beautifully lit space to work and compose my pictures, but also as a reminder of the value of the truth to be found in nature.
Letting a bit of the world into my studio, reminds me of how infinite our solutions and inspirations can be when we observe nature. Art reflects life in this way, it’s just whether or not we can be observant enough to catch it.
What did you learn in the process of the making?
I learned a lot about Lydia. I think this is the advantage to working from life as well. The work wasn’t impersonal. We were exchanging ideas constantly, which became essential to the growth of the project. I remember having such a difficult time trying to find a name for the work, and Lydia really helped me step back as an observer over the course of the project to get a sense of what could be said, or what needed to be said about it. Less is more.
What do you wish to convey through this work?
I don’t wish to push or convey anything with any of my portrait work. I think what the viewer pulls from it is entirely up to them and their experiences. I don’t like the idea of forcing a narrative on someone with portraiture, because you box the viewer in and simultaneously box the subject in.
I like to think that whomever views the painting will see it as an interaction similar to meeting a new person. You’re having a conversation with the painting. Who is she? What is she like? And all of this comes from the translation of my experiences working with Lydia.
The title of the work came to me only at the very end actually. “Be” means many things, and can be implied into many contexts. The title shouldn’t alter or distract from the work.
What makes this work special for you?
The idea that it was collaborative. I’m very specific with my routine and my craft, so to let go a bit and put faith into the hands of the subject was really rewarding. It’s something that I criticize about myself quite often. So much attention to these technical practices, I often stray away from letting what I’m depicting really influence me. There is such a fine line to being expressive but also staying in control. It’s like walking on a tight rope.
I’m always feeling when I’m painting, but my hands and brain dance to a different tune to what my heart does. I can’t help but feel so rigid when I work sometimes, but I think realizing this is a good thing. Being patient enough with myself to grow is another.
More about Eric:
Eric J. Drummond began drawing at a very early age. Born to parents from Madeira, Portugal and Le Marche, Italy; he was constantly inspired by western art specifically from the Italian Renaissance. Some of the artists most influential to Eric over the years include: Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Pontormo, Cellini, Bernini, Rembrandt, Ribera, Ramon Casas, Velazquez, Carpeaux, Repin, Solomon J Solomon, John Singer Sargent, Bonnat and Bouguereau. After studying Art History at the University of Guelph, he was accepted and enrolled at The Florence Academy of Art in 2016. There he was taught to draw and paint the figure from life and compose portraits and still life’s, using the traditional methods and practices developed by the old masters from which he was so inspired by as a child.
Eric works only from life. This allows him honest and true artistic translation. Staying true to the sight size method developed by the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France in the 1800s, he largely crafts his own materials, and hand preps his own canvases to ensure quality in each work. Working from life allows Eric total creative control and interpretation of his subjects.
And this creative control, by working from life is about translation. Artists are not printers, they are not copyists. This philosophy of interpreting nature has been canon to art since before the Greeks. Each image is Eric’s view of the specificity of what he see’s while also balanced with his allowance to experience of what he see’s. People, portraits, and figures done in oils under the academic principles are his focus, using the medium of paint or charcoal as a sensory experience to be seen as well. Using thickness and thinness of paint to translate form, compression of values to express light, and the experience of interacting with his subjects in person to express moments between human beings. The goal is to use methods developed by the old masters and bridge a new horizon in Canada for painting and draftsmanship.
Eric’s work has been awarded and featured by The Art Renewal Center, The MEAM Museum of Barcelona, and The Florence Academy of Art. He is an alumni of and has worked as a principle instructor of drawing at The Florence Academy of Art, and has exhibited internationally in Italy, Spain, The United States and Canada.
See more of Eric’s work at:
Instagram @eric.j.drummond
Website www.ericjdrummond.com
Facebook Eric.J.DrummondArtist
