Chen Bachar never met John Lennon. Before painting him, he watched the documentary about the Beatles to understand the man behind the round glasses.
In ARTiculAction Art Review he explained why that research matters, and why no portrait is only about its subject. This is the second half of his answer; the first is about Steve Jobs.
John Lennon · Acrylic on canvas · 140×140 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. Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?
ARTiculAction Art Review – Josh Ryder & Barbara Scott
In Chen's words
The colorful Pop-Arty lines given to the painting of "John Lennon" were mostly to capture the being of the person I painted, the look, his character. I used bright colors and the use of color psychology to transfer my feelings towards the illustrated.
…and I watched the documentary about the Beatles and John to understand him. I'm sure that without connection to the creation and its origins I cannot paint an authentic creation that I'm in there. In each painting I create, I put a part of me in it somewhere.
Using a lot of lines that are not realistic, and also the Redirection to paint abstract, comes from intuition and spreading my catharsis that related to the person. You cannot be disconnected from your artwork in my opinion, the connection is even, dare to say, mostly you.
I picture myself in a different form, what I put on the canvas are values, feelings and my understanding of the world. This is part of my inner journey. It's like in psychology, where your character could be examined by a simple drawing, the same way you can understand the inner journey I go through that occurred during painting.
Chen Bachar
About the work
The large square acrylic shows Lennon’s face, round glasses and long hair in loose strokes of pink, red, yellow and blue. The likeness is clear, but the colour does not describe skin. It describes how the painter feels about the person.
The same approach shapes the companion portraits of Steve Jobs and Amy Winehouse.
More from the interview
- Chen Bachar Interview: Ten Questions from ARTiculAction Art Review
- 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
- Osnat and the Free Hand: Inside Chen Bachar's Creative Process