Some paintings start with an idea. African Woman started with a face. Chen Bachar saw a photograph of her and could not stop looking: who was she, and what had happened to her?
ARTiculAction Art Review chose African Woman and Gipsy to open its feature on Chen, and asked about the juxtaposition of intense tones that gives his canvases their dynamic, autonomous feel. This is the part of his answer about African Woman (the story of Gipsy is told separately).
African Woman · Oil on canvas · 120×80 cm – View the artwork
The question
What has at once captured our attention of these piece is the way the juxtaposition between intense tones provide your canvass with dynamic and autonomous aesthetic. While walking our readers through the genesis of these pieces, would you shed light to your main source of inspirations?
ARTiculAction Art Review – Josh Ryder & Barbara Scott
In Chen's words
My source of inspiration are people, The moments that people experience. People fascinate me.
In "African Woman" It was important for me to emphasize the strength of the woman, to show a sexy, soft, gentle woman, with nobility and strength that can capture me, that can make me wonder what happened to her, who is she?
I took a photo in which she appears, looked at it, and it caused me to be mesmerized for a few days, Until I decided that I need to capture that moment, studying her through painting, trying to reach a gentle body tones, to emphasize her femininity in the most gentle way, and simultaneously her power. The story of her life.
Chen Bachar
About the work
In the painting, a woman in a patterned head wrap is shown in profile against a deep blue ground, her hand raised to her chin, with gold rings at her ear and wrist. The warm, softly modelled skin tones against the cool background are the “gentle body tones” Chen describes reaching for.
Strength and gentleness side by side, the masculine and the feminine held in balance, is a thread that runs through many of his portraits of women.
More from the interview
- Chen Bachar Interview: Ten Questions from ARTiculAction Art Review
- Gipsy: Painting a Woman's Quiet Power
- Thoughts: Between Realism and the Subconscious Line
- Childhood: A Rusty Tricycle as a Self-Portrait
- The Clown and the Question: What Is Art For Today?
- Steve Jobs: Why the Portrait Is Split Across Two Canvases