This graphite pencil drawing ‘Neo Deco – 14-02-26’ is the start of a series of female nudes on square-sized paper. In my personal cubist style nonetheless. Lately I had it in me to experiment with different body positions and there is a reason for it. Recently I incorporated a drawing I made back in 2019 in my oil painting ‘In Hoc Signo’. For a couple of years I’m working on that one and the last months I have been toiling to the max. Inspiration never ceases to arrive though and I had some ideas, such as the drawing I was referring to. Which is called ‘Yeast – 18-09-19’ by the way. In fact, it was my regular model’s idea to have her strike a pose as Madonna once did. Something proportionally squarish and I like it very much. It became a great drawing which I sold quickly.
Having that drawing in mind and using it once again in my oil, something struck me all of a sudden. Why not have my model strike a new kind of pose, yet a square like in 2019? We experimented with a couple of gestures and arms and legs positions. Then this one popped out and I liked the result very much. It is as beautiful as aforemeant Madonna-pose. The dark circular form behind her came naturally. Somehow and surely intuitively this was what the dynamic body position of the female nude needed. It ties her to the negative space around her. The style is mildly cubist I think. Not too much nifty abstractions, only that much to make it not to realistic. The straight line running down from her right hip I personally like best.
Throughout the years I mainly drew on A4, A5 and A6 size papers. This is different and it makes me wonder why I haven’t done these deviations before. Perhaps it was born out of sheer laziness, because these papers all come from these prefab blocks. You can buy them in any old regular art supplies store. Strange, now I come to think of it, I hardly have seen square blocks in the recent past. However, I like these 1-1-ratio proportions and I think they force me to come up with new kinds of compositions.
Graphite pencil (Faber Castell, Pitt Graphite Matt, 14B) drawing on Talens paper (21 x 21 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers
