ARTiculAction Art Review reserved a full page for Chen Bachar’s portrait of Amy Winehouse. Here we pair it with the question that every artist who shows work eventually faces: how much should the audience shape what you make?
Chen’s answer is a careful balance, and it includes a line worth reading next to this painting: he does not want to be an artist who paints only famous figures in pop-art style.
Amy Winehouse · Acrylic on canvas · 140×140 cm – View the artwork
The question
One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?
ARTiculAction Art Review – Josh Ryder & Barbara Scott
In Chen's words
It is very important for me to be communicative, to some extent understandable. Also it's very important for me to remain mysterious. I think an artist should have freedom in his area, to create from the heart and stomach, less from the head.
It's one thing to consult and listen to criticism and opinions, but an entirely different thing where the artwork takes you, what she whispers to you and if she's ready. There is a huge dialogue in any artwork I do, my interest is to keep in perspective the opinions compared to what I really want to transfer, and how much freedom I give to the art in me.
I believe that this journey will have lots of opinions and reviews but it is part of the journey. It is important for me to stay open, to experience, to hear, try and make mistakes! This is quite different than to follow what people say, otherwise the freedom I have to create art, has no weight.
I would not want to be an artist that paints only known figures in pop art style, it is important for me to experiment and for that, I need people to give opinions. I respect my art, that is why I show it, but there's an area that is all mine and it's important for me to keep to myself even more.
Chen Bachar
About the work
The portrait is a large square acrylic, built from vivid planes of purple, pink, yellow and blue. The face is instantly recognisable, but the colour is the painter’s: the same colour psychology behind his John Lennon.
Seen beside his oils, charcoal drawings and still lifes, the pop portraits are one direction among many, which is exactly the point of his answer.
More from the interview
- Chen Bachar Interview: Ten Questions from ARTiculAction Art Review
- Mama Rachel and a Late Start: From Programmer to Painter
- The Fisher Man: How Travel Shaped Chen Bachar's Painting
- Osnat and the Free Hand: Inside Chen Bachar's Creative Process
- African Woman: The Story Behind Chen Bachar's Oil Painting
- Gipsy: Painting a Woman's Quiet Power