That I'm aware of, there are no creatures upon the Earth which, when in harm's way, will not struggle to better their circumstance. The "disabled" are no less capable of artistry than any other. A person with no eyes may still compose a photograph, one with no hearing may still sing, the legless can still dance and someone with no hands can still manage to hold a brush and paint. There may or may not be a limitation on what clarity can be obtained, what pitch may be kept, what form may be taken and what stroke may be made but this is also true of artists who retain full function of their bodies. A painting does not flow from canvas to brush to brain to heart, but the opposite direction. As long as the latter two are intact, an artist may wield - in whatever manner - the tool they choose and in the method they are capable; no matter the disabiltiy, desire can create new opportunity upon any canvas.
This artist's effort was immense and his publicity, poignant. Here he was, offering undeniable proof that desire was the only real requirement to belong in the world of painters. His was not a unique circumstance, though - hundreds, if not thousands around the world find themselves limbless without being creatively lifeless. The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Worldwide represents 74 countries with over 700 members who skillfully guide our thoughts and feelings with artistic representations of their own. The Mouth and Foot Painters Association of America is another such organization which offers encouragement and support to artists with varying physical challenges.
One such artist is Dennis Francesconi, a California artist who, at 17 years of age, became paralyzed in a water-skiing accident and, through no small effort, taught himself to write, sketch and paint using his mouth. What surely would, and by many accounts should, have decimated a man's life, in his case, served to be a platform upon which to build greater and greater confidence that would ultimately lead him to earning a living, writing a blog and receiving international attention - due to extraordinary personal and creative drive and ability and not the lack thereof. He has granted me permission to include his work, Tuscan Countryside, shown below:
Tuscan Countryside, by Dennis A. Francesconi. Courtesy, Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Inc., Atlanta
Mrs. Rakow flipped through mostly recognizable slides, one by one pointing out the "flaw" in the artists' vision. Some had uncorrected myopia (nearsightedness) that lead to impressionist-styled paintings. Others potentially had macular puckers or holes (degradation of central vision). Gaugin, she said, had uncorrected astigmatism (a corneal undulation) which caused subjects to appear foreshortened. Van Gogh supposedly ingested elements which would cause yellow vision, leading to an abundance of this pigment in his work. And here was Claude Monet, revered as the father of Impressionism. Monet, like Mary Cassatt, developed cataracts as so many of us do.
The procedure on her left eye was also a failure and she ceased painting altogether. Mary Cassatt died in 1926 at the age of 82.
This artist's effort was immense and his publicity, poignant. Here he was, offering undeniable proof that desire was the only real requirement to belong in the world of painters. His was not a unique circumstance, though - hundreds, if not thousands around the world find themselves limbless without being creatively lifeless. The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Worldwide represents 74 countries with over 700 members who skillfully guide our thoughts and feelings with artistic representations of their own. The Mouth and Foot Painters Association of America is another such organization which offers encouragement and support to artists with varying physical challenges.
One such artist is Dennis Francesconi, a California artist who, at 17 years of age, became paralyzed in a water-skiing accident and, through no small effort, taught himself to write, sketch and paint using his mouth. What surely would, and by many accounts should, have decimated a man's life, in his case, served to be a platform upon which to build greater and greater confidence that would ultimately lead him to earning a living, writing a blog and receiving international attention - due to extraordinary personal and creative drive and ability and not the lack thereof. He has granted me permission to include his work, Tuscan Countryside, shown below:
Mrs. Rakow flipped through mostly recognizable slides, one by one pointing out the "flaw" in the artists' vision. Some had uncorrected myopia (nearsightedness) that lead to impressionist-styled paintings. Others potentially had macular puckers or holes (degradation of central vision). Gaugin, she said, had uncorrected astigmatism (a corneal undulation) which caused subjects to appear foreshortened. Van Gogh supposedly ingested elements which would cause yellow vision, leading to an abundance of this pigment in his work. And here was Claude Monet, revered as the father of Impressionism. Monet, like Mary Cassatt, developed cataracts as so many of us do.
Mary Cassatt (self portrait) and Claude Monet (self portrait)
Cataracts form when proteins begin to clump within the crystalline lens of the eye. They usually begin small and slowly grow to varying stages/opacities. They normally present with an increase in light sensitivity, dimness or clouding of vision, double vision and/or loss of color perception. At the point where vision is significantly impaired, today surgery is performed to replace the lens with an artificial one. While some form of cataract surgery dates back to as early as the 5th century B.C., lens replacement was not made possible until 1949 A.D..
Toreador, Mary Cassatt, 1873
meticulous attention to detail, characteristic of her earlier works
Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun, Mary Cassatt, 1914
notice loss of detail, enlarged brush strokes perhaps due to developing cataracts
Unfortunately for them, both Cassatt and Monet did not lens replacement as an option. For them, the surgery involved incredible risk. Mary Cassatt's first surgery, performed on her right eye in 1917, did not go well. With another surgery looming, in 1919 she wrote,
“My sight is getting dimmer every day. I find writing tires my eyes. I look forward with horror to utter darkness and then an operation which may end in as great a failure as the last one.”
Monet’s cataracts were diagnosed in 1912. Eventually, a brownish clouding changed his lenses to such a degree that he had to essentially “paint by label”, no longer capable of trusting his eyes to select the correct colors. His words and works reflect the degradation in vision,
“...colors no longer had the same intensity for me...reds had begun to look muddy...my painting was getting more and more darkened. on the one hand trusting solely to the labels on the tubes of paint and, on the other, to force of habit.”
Waterlillies, Claude Monet: ~1906 pre-cataract (top), cataract onset ~1920-1926
Japanese Bridge at Giverny, Claude Monet:
~1897-1899 pre-cataract (top), Japanese Footbridge ~1919-1922 cataract onset
Lily Pond at Giverny, Kyle Kuykendall 2009
His creed, echoed by many artists,
“Paint what you really see, not what you think you ought to see; not the object isolated as in a test tube, but the object enveloped in sunlight and atmosphere, with the blue dome of Heaven reflected in the shadows.”
may be further understood through Monet’s renewed, post-cataract, vision:
“I received the spectacles from Germany and much to my surprise the results are very good. I can see green again, red and, at last an attenuated blue.”
It was after this rejuvenation, and upon his examination of paintings during the period of his cataract affliction, that he and an assistant destroyed many of those canvases. One might expect Monet to have altered his mandate to reflect his newly realised practical reality: paint what is really there - your vision may be fooling you.
Impressionism may well define a stylistic movement of brush to cloth. Rightfully there are many who would look upon these "masters" as possessing immeasureable talent and skill. Where, though, is potential more greatly illustrated - in the product from the prodigious or in the miracle from the meek? More so than anything, in this post I intend to point out an innate necessity in humankind that so many people overlook. I'm no Monet, Cassatt or Francesconi - I am myself and my creations are uniquely mine, as theirs are to them. To compare one work to another, regardless of implied talent or ability, is akin to a giant running a foot race against a dwarf (and I should know about this as I stand at 6'2" while my mother is 4'10"). We are not born nor do we live the same. We do not look nor do we believe the same. We are particularly inhumane in our judgement yet specifically human in our frailties. The greatest impression upon me is not made by the drying color smeared and stretched before me on a wall but by the trembling, feeble, labored and pained body who, in challenge to the oppressive hand of death in life, CHOSE to create and defeat limitation as these and countless others have and continue to do.
Monet's words again inspire me:
“It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly”
"When it is dark, it seems to me as if I were dying, and I can't think any more."
"Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love."
When it is our turn to work the canvas, no matter the genre, no matter the limitation, in spite of all criticism and regardless of self-doubt, we should be steadfast in our endeavor and produce exactly what we can and precisely as we wish to. If we do not, we may as well be dead.
Thanks for reading.
Kyle
Thanks for reading.
Kyle
Legal notice:
Images, quotes and links used are either copyrighted by the author or used with permission except in cases where copyright has expired. Rights to publish, print or reproduce these images are neither expressed nor implied by their inclusion in this post.
Thanks to Dennis Francesconi for his kind words and permission to include his work in this blog, and to organizations such as MFPA, Inc and VDMFK.com for their continued and significant support of the arts.
Resources:
http://www.mfpausa.com/
http://www.vdmfk.com/
Art and the Eye, Phyllis Rakow, COMT, NCLE-AC, FCLSA(H)
Tuscan Countryside, Dennis A. Francesconi
Art, Vision, & the Distorted Eye, Eliana Coldham, Vanessa Cooney, Donald Kline, & Marcela Salamanca
Lily Pond at Giverny, Kyle Kuykendall, ABOC
http://www.mfpausa.com/
http://www.vdmfk.com/
Art and the Eye, Phyllis Rakow, COMT, NCLE-AC, FCLSA(H)
Tuscan Countryside, Dennis A. Francesconi
Art, Vision, & the Distorted Eye, Eliana Coldham, Vanessa Cooney, Donald Kline, & Marcela Salamanca
Lily Pond at Giverny, Kyle Kuykendall, ABOC
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