Chen Bachar’s portrait of Steve Jobs is two paintings. A line runs down the middle of the face, and it is there on purpose.
ARTiculAction Art Review asked whether a creative process can be disconnected from direct experience, given that Chen never met the famous people he paints. His answer starts with Jobs.
Steve Jobs · Acrylic on canvas · 160×170 cm – View the artwork
The question
You seem to draw from universal imagery and your works entitled JOHN LENNON and STEVE JOBS give a permanence to the intrinsic ephemeral nature of the characters you capture through your images. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process… Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?
ARTiculAction Art Review – Josh Ryder & Barbara Scott
In Chen's words
In my work on "John Lennon" and "Steve Jobs" I had a different journey. "Steve Jobs" is divided into two Canvases and for a good reason. Steve Jobs was a visionary and a kind of dictator, he also changed the world with creativity and also was a person who was hard to work with, so I divided the work. However, I left the piece colorful and optimistic because I appreciate him very much, and it is important to emphasize.
I have no personal acquaintance with the illustrated, yet I have much appreciation for them and their work led me to research about them, I read the book about Steve Jobs before approaching to paint the character.
I'm sure that without connection to the creation and its origins I cannot paint an authentic creation that I'm in there.
Chen Bachar
About the work
The portrait is painted in acrylic across two canvases, built from bright planes of colour: magenta, turquoise, yellow and green against a dark ground. The split in the middle is the contradiction Chen describes; the colour is his appreciation.
Reading the biography before painting is typical of how he approaches a famous face. He did the same with John Lennon.
More from the interview
- Chen Bachar Interview: Ten Questions from ARTiculAction Art Review
- John Lennon: A Pop-Art Portrait Built on Colour Psychology
- Venice and the Choice of Materials: Oil, Watercolour, Spices and Sand
- Amy Winehouse: Between Speaking to the Audience and Staying Mysterious
- Mama Rachel and a Late Start: From Programmer to Painter
- The Fisher Man: How Travel Shaped Chen Bachar's Painting