I completed a new painting a bit over a week ago and have not been able to come up with a good title for it. Sometimes titles are easy. For my charcoal and pastel portraits and figures, I've just used the subject's name plus the number in the sequence. "James #4", for example. These artworks are studies of the specific individual, so titling is easy.
This painting, however, is different. Here's an image (click on it for a larger version):
The subject here is more ambiguous. Everybody I've talked with has seen something different in it. I know what I was thinking about when composing and painting it, but nobody else has interpreted it that way yet. And that's not a bad thing at all.
Many years ago, I was taking a painting class, and our homework assignment was to paint a still life. So I went home, threw a bunch of things together, then winnowed them down to just two things: my Navy officer's hat and the old teddy bear from when I was a kid. I liked them because of the contrast in colors and textures. The hard black, white, and gold of the hat contrasted with the soft texture and warm browns of the teddy bear. Here's how that painting turned out:
I thought it was an interesting study, certainly more so than the usual apples or flowers, but that was about it. Then, in class, we critiqued each other's work. When they got to this one, one of the other students said that he saw a military father who was going off to war and wasn't coming back, and the kid was going to have to grow up without a father, and it was one of the saddest paintings he'd ever seen. Holy cow. I thought "damn, it was just a still life ... ". But I also learned that I can't control what others see in an artwork. Everybody else comes to the viewing with a very different background, mood, likes/dislikes, and outlook, so everybody is going to see each artwork through their own lens.
And so it is with my newest painting. I expected that people would have different interpretations and I wasn't disappointed. But I also realized that an artwork's title has a lot to do with how people interpret it. Had I told these other people what the title was beforehand, I would not have heard some really interesting ideas. Some of the interpretations:
- The young woman has been through some very bad experiences, but she has come out on the other side and is moving forward with her life.
- Civilization has collapsed and those left are learning to live with the results.
- The girl represents innocence, and she's coming to realize the world as it really is.
- The girl represents strength and confidence, able to handle anything the world can throw at her.
- Hard times are coming.
And there are more.
So how do you come up with one title that can accommodate all those interpretations? I haven't been able to. I tried crowd-sourcing the title in a Facebook artist group and got a wide range of suggestions. Most were simple and descriptive. None covered all the interpretations I've heard so far. I'd done this once before (written about in this post from 2018) and got a great title. Not this time.
At the moment, just for my records, I have a title. But I'm not sharing it here. I'd rather hear more new interpretations from others.
This painting, however, is different. Here's an image (click on it for a larger version):
The subject here is more ambiguous. Everybody I've talked with has seen something different in it. I know what I was thinking about when composing and painting it, but nobody else has interpreted it that way yet. And that's not a bad thing at all.
Many years ago, I was taking a painting class, and our homework assignment was to paint a still life. So I went home, threw a bunch of things together, then winnowed them down to just two things: my Navy officer's hat and the old teddy bear from when I was a kid. I liked them because of the contrast in colors and textures. The hard black, white, and gold of the hat contrasted with the soft texture and warm browns of the teddy bear. Here's how that painting turned out:
I thought it was an interesting study, certainly more so than the usual apples or flowers, but that was about it. Then, in class, we critiqued each other's work. When they got to this one, one of the other students said that he saw a military father who was going off to war and wasn't coming back, and the kid was going to have to grow up without a father, and it was one of the saddest paintings he'd ever seen. Holy cow. I thought "damn, it was just a still life ... ". But I also learned that I can't control what others see in an artwork. Everybody else comes to the viewing with a very different background, mood, likes/dislikes, and outlook, so everybody is going to see each artwork through their own lens.
And so it is with my newest painting. I expected that people would have different interpretations and I wasn't disappointed. But I also realized that an artwork's title has a lot to do with how people interpret it. Had I told these other people what the title was beforehand, I would not have heard some really interesting ideas. Some of the interpretations:
- The young woman has been through some very bad experiences, but she has come out on the other side and is moving forward with her life.
- Civilization has collapsed and those left are learning to live with the results.
- The girl represents innocence, and she's coming to realize the world as it really is.
- The girl represents strength and confidence, able to handle anything the world can throw at her.
- Hard times are coming.
And there are more.
So how do you come up with one title that can accommodate all those interpretations? I haven't been able to. I tried crowd-sourcing the title in a Facebook artist group and got a wide range of suggestions. Most were simple and descriptive. None covered all the interpretations I've heard so far. I'd done this once before (written about in this post from 2018) and got a great title. Not this time.
At the moment, just for my records, I have a title. But I'm not sharing it here. I'd rather hear more new interpretations from others.
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