PYRAMUS AND THISBE

I have an obsession with Pompeii, and try to read anything on the topic that I can get my hands on. I also believe that the painting that came from there, and that was done in the early Emperial Era of ancient Rome was the best painting that has ever been done by man. During the Renaissance, this work was discovered by observant Italians, and then emulated, but it was never topped! This is my version of Pyramus and Thisbe, the more ancient Babylonian version of Romeo and Juliet. It is included in Ovid`s Metamorphoses, Book IV. I did a sketch of the Pompeii version, when I visited the UT Art library one day, and then used the sketch to create this painting. I have not seen prints of this work anywhere except in that old book at UT. I enlarged the figures, as if you are right on top of them, so it seems as if you are right in the event. I believe I may have been influenced by Lucien Freud here, because he does that a lot. In terms of composition, I made the figures at a 90 degree angle to the horizontal/vertical grid of the canvass. I also raised the figures three-dimensionally by using some Golden molding paste, and while I could see that it is not marble, I could see where I could imbue some texture into the figures, making them more lifelike. This is not obvious by looking at the photo, but there is a sculptural aspect to it. For colors I used earthy ochres, fleshy tones, and pastel greens and blues, and thought of Cezanne romping in the French countryside. I imagined that I was holding a digital camera right up to the star-crossed lovers, even though this is a malpropism for possibly 6th or 7th century BCE action! I have never been as inspired by art as I was at the time that I went to the archaeology museum in Naples (early October 2000)! Simply put, this is why I like to paint in this style. I hope to make my future works more original, while still borrowing the organic integrity, and simplicity of these nearly lost works! The Pompeii paintings are greater than the Mona Lisa, The Madonna of the Rocks, or Guernica all combined! That is the philosophy of art of Monsieur Bovee; it has taken me many years of hard study to come to that kernel of wisdom, and I will hold on to it to my grave! * afterthought-9/20/2007-The fading frescoes in Fellini`s "Roma" keeps looping in my mind. Works of art are not eternal, but rather ephemeral, and wouldn`t it be a pity if we lost many of the paintings of Pompeii? Here is another web page with photos of Pompeii! Really, that one is not too good! The House of M. Lucretius Fronto is the very best site I have ever seen!

HO CHI MINH IS A SON-OF-A-BITCH

I still feel guilty about admiring Ho Chi Minh when I was a kid. Please read: "Ho Chi Minh" by William J. Duiker; now all is revealed, and the tale of how Ho was trailed and hunted by the authorities for many years is layed bare. And his astounding vision to free Vietnam from the yoke of oppression by the French is inked in; these events, including the American involvement, did not have to go down this way. This kind of information was not available back in the days of the Vietnam War. Now we can see that Ho Chi Minh was more of a Nationalist than strickly a Marxist/Communist. This was not known at that time. The Johnson Administration saw him as a proxy to Red China and The Soviet Union. This, in a nutshell, is the tragedy of Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a malignant outgrowth of The Cold War. I`m still hiding my portrait out of fear and guilt; the fear of retaliation or accusations of treason. Maybe we are not yet enough years away from those events to be in calmer waters. He implored FDR to embrace his cause of a United Vietnam, at the close of WWII. When FDR died, Truman let the French re-colonialize Vietnam. This was the beginning of the debacle. My collage just capsulizes some of the puzzling events of the war. When I was growing up, the collage medium was the newest thing! The Marshall McLuhan idea that the medium is the message resounded with me. Maybe I learned that from John Lennon too and the first solo album: The Plastic Ono Band. Mama don`t go...daddy come home...mantra repeated a thousand fold...

SHAPES

Shapes is refreshing; a hodge-podge of irregular forms pieced together randomly. It is an oil that Claude Bovee did about a year ago. The song Shapes of Things by The Yardbirds is the inspiration, and is meant to be played while you meditate on the painting. Then you may want to view "Blowup" (Michaelangelo Antonioni) where Jeff Beck raves and breaks-up his guitar. This is the way Swinging London needs to remembered! I own a copy of the DVD now, and it is my favorite film for now. It defines the idea of conspiracy, (& implies that photography has the key to many riddles) that reared its hideous head in the 1960s!

NEW ART FROM CLAUDE BOVEE!

The Triumph of Bacchus XI


Comic Mask


Tragic Mask


Victims of Vesuvius


Venus of the Fountain


Pyramus & Thisbe


The Sacrifice of Iphigenia

A Still Life Medley (Triptych)

With all three works I purchased plants at a nursery, and as I painted them, I placed each of them at the exact same locale on my work table. I stood erect at a predetermined, precise identical spot, in terms of distance and angle from the plants, and sketched them onto the canvas or tile. All three are accurate renderings of the plants, but more freedom was allowed for the use of color! Bravo! All are simple cheerful medleys of color and form!