To draw a portrait from life is about more than just reproducing the shapes that constitute the model’s appearance. It has to capture the look of the person, to be a recognizable likeness. But I want my portraits to go beyond likeness, to suggest a mind full of thoughts and a heart full of feelings. […]
In the Spring 2009 issue of Drawing magazine, we featured an article on Fred Hatt, an artist whose dynamic and powerful drawings can be classified as performances almost as much as objects. Here, we present
I’ve named this collection of my recent figure drawing work “Élan Vital” after philosopher Henri Bergson‘s concept of a dynamic impulse manifesting in evolution and creativity. Figure drawing is the ongoing practice or discipline through which I strive to perceive the world and my fellow beings not as objects, but as patterns of flowing energy. […]
The artist talks about the human body, drawing people, and why he takes such a multidisciplinary approach.
In the Spring 2009 issue of Drawing magazine, we featured an article on Fred Hatt, an artist whose dynamic and powerful drawings can be classified as performances almost as much as objects. Here, we present
Four Lights, 2010, by Fred Hatt (Black) Yellow White Blue Red
The artist talks about the human body, drawing people, and why he takes such a multidisciplinary approach.
Artists who work from direct observation have a special way of looking at their subjects, a darting glance that picks up impressions the way a janitor’s litter spike snags trash. Nearly every action that builds up the drawing or painting follows from one of those quick looks. You look and make a mark, look again […]
Last week I attended “Sketch Night” at “Bodies: The Exhibition“, at the South Street Seaport in New York. This is one of those exhibits of real human cadavers, preserved by a process called plastination or polymer preservation, and variously dissected for educational display to the general public. The Sketch Nights give artists access to the […]
I’ve named this collection of my recent figure drawing work “Élan Vital” after philosopher Henri Bergson‘s concept of a dynamic impulse manifesting in evolution and creativity. Figure drawing is the ongoing practice or discipline through which I strive to perceive the world and my fellow beings not as objects, but as patterns of flowing energy. […]
On the scale of galaxies and bodies, the universe embodies the elegant equations of Einstein and Newton, but at the subatomic scale, it’s all quantum weirdness, a foamy chaos of particles popping in and out of existence. Processes of evolution have generated the great panoply of Gaian life, but to the individual creature it’s just […]
In the Spring 2009 issue of Drawing magazine, we featured an article on Fred Hatt, an artist whose dynamic and powerful drawings can be classified as performances almost as much as objects. Here, we present
Smoke, 2010, drawing by Fred Hatt
On the scale of galaxies and bodies, the universe embodies the elegant equations of Einstein and Newton, but at the subatomic scale, it’s all quantum weirdness, a foamy chaos of particles popping in and out of existence. Processes of evolution have generated the great panoply of Gaian life, but to the individual creature it’s just […]
On the scale of galaxies and bodies, the universe embodies the elegant equations of Einstein and Newton, but at the subatomic scale, it’s all quantum weirdness, a foamy chaos of particles popping in and out of existence. Processes of evolution have generated the great panoply of Gaian life, but to the individual creature it’s just […]
I’ve named this collection of my recent figure drawing work “Élan Vital” after philosopher Henri Bergson‘s concept of a dynamic impulse manifesting in evolution and creativity. Figure drawing is the ongoing practice or discipline through which I strive to perceive the world and my fellow beings not as objects, but as patterns of flowing energy. […]
The artist talks about the human body, drawing people, and why he takes such a multidisciplinary approach.
Fred Hatt is an American, self-taught artists, he specializes in making short films and life drawings, I really like how he uses such vibrant colours against a black background, you can see the ene…
Faces are so complex I find it hard to draw them small. Working at about twice life size gives enough room for my hand to delineate the shapes I see, using the blunt crayons that are my favored tool. The enlarged scale makes the images imposing even when seen from a distance. This is Tram, […]
I’ve named this collection of my recent figure drawing work “Élan Vital” after philosopher Henri Bergson‘s concept of a dynamic impulse manifesting in evolution and creativity. Figure drawing is the ongoing practice or discipline through which I strive to perceive the world and my fellow beings not as objects, but as patterns of flowing energy. […]
Last week I attended “Sketch Night” at “Bodies: The Exhibition“, at the South Street Seaport in New York. This is one of those exhibits of real human cadavers, preserved by a process called plastination or polymer preservation, and variously dissected for educational display to the general public. The Sketch Nights give artists access to the […]
Isn’t this a wonderful evocation of the movement of an excited dachshund out for a walk? You can just feel the undulations of the leash and the wagging of the tail, and you can almost hear the clicking of the dog’s toenails on the sidewalk. A camera might capture this scene by freezing an instant. […]
Faces are so complex I find it hard to draw them small. Working at about twice life size gives enough room for my hand to delineate the shapes I see, using the blunt crayons that are my favored tool. The enlarged scale makes the images imposing even when seen from a distance. This is Tram, […]
In last month’s post, “Working Big – Part 1”, I shared a selection of large figure drawings done at or near life-size. Over the last decade I’ve also been doing large-scale drawings with multiple overlapping figures. In the Drawing Life post “Time and Line”, I wrote about how I arrived at this approach, and how it relates to […]
Alice Neel (1900-1984) is always described as an artist that was slow to find recognition. It’s true, but I think it’s also true that her brilliance was of a kind that is only achieved through maturity and persistence. Our culture likes to think that a genius is a genius, that they must be incandescent in […]
Faces are so complex I find it hard to draw them small. Working at about twice life size gives enough room for my hand to delineate the shapes I see, using the blunt crayons that are my favored tool. The enlarged scale makes the images imposing even when seen from a distance. This is Tram, […]
