Sans Titre – 27-07-23 (Audrey Hepburn)

Return to Stardom

This grapite pencil drawing ‘Sans Titre – 27-07-023’ is a return to stardom once more. Veronica Lake was the last one in the series. Louise Brooks I consider a series and world in her own right. Of course a star as well. Audrey Hepburn however I drew only once, almost a decade ago. In fact, it’s one of those drawing I started my new cubism revolution with. Wouldn’t you agree it was about time I’d do another portrait of her? You know, my cubist style has evolved throughout the years. See what my roundism style could do this time.

Forms and Ideas

Somehow I keep returning to this almost hazy vision of keeping things fluffy and airy lately. I think I succeeded doing (or keeping) that in my drawing of Veronika. Surely I have described this feeling a couple of times before. It’s a quality I always have honored Cézanne for. I sum it up concisely for those who haven’t read previous art statement on the topic. Transparency and forms unfinished I consider a kind of start of an open discussion with spectators. They have to complete them in their minds. My theory entails a more comprehensive definition of what reality is, something more meaningful perhaps. Things with names attached are nothing more than forms. By half completing them this will trigger more imagination because that is what reality basically is.

Airy and Openess

Consequently it’s birth of kind of überrealism, way beyond the extent of photorealism. By showing less there’s more imagination and thus more than meets the eye. As to the depiction itself initially I didn’t know what to do with the turtleneck she’s wearing. I was afraid of hatching the attire to a complete blackness and also doing that with the hair. That only would make both structures to appear lumpy. Hence I kept forms open and made all forms only partially dark. In order to have her communicate with the white negative space I kept forms open. The result is you have the feel of travelling through her, finding entries and exits throught the whole paper.

My Fair Lady

Personally I hope the swirly and straight forms secretly say something essential about My Fair Lady. By the way, did you know she’s actually is half-dutch? As a fellow countryman I’m proud of that. I have watched a couples of interviews with her and she speaks our language perfectly. Her accent sounds old-fashioned though. Just like people sounded in the 1950s or how our former Queen Beatrix still speaks. Looking at her pictures she seems so young though. As if those pictures have been taken only yesterday. It proves that all things pass by so quickly. Only paintings and drawings last a little bit longer, remnants of ages gone by. So Audrey lives on a bit longer but now you watchers are creating her.

Graphite pencil (Faber Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencil 14B) drawing on Fabriano Ingres paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers