November 5, 2004

• Amazing night . . . so much to tell. I met Walter Rane!!! (will update tomorrow)

  Update:
  My uncle and Holly found out about the lecture Walter Rane was giving Thursday, and since he is my favorite living artist, they told me about it. Thus, I went to see Walter Rane with Holly and one her friends, David. David drove us, which was really nice since we killed his car in the process. It’s kind of a funny story. On the way home (thank goodness in Provo) the car died on the highway exit ramp. A nice girl behind us jump started the car and offered to follow us, which was great because it died again at a stop light. Another jump start had us on our way, until it died at the bell tower. We pushed it into the parking lot from there. What is kind of interesting was that before we left, Holly offered a prayer. I had never thought of offering a prayer before going into the city before, but in her prayer she asked for a safe journey home, one that I think was accomplished. It is in the small things like that that I am reminded why I love the Gospel so much.

  Hearing Walter Rane speak really inspired me. He said that he had always wanted to be an artist, and he expressed gratitude to parents who encouraged it. He made his first painting when he was 10. He does and has always used his family- siblings, spouse, and kids- as his models. Hearing him talk about all of that really touched me because I followed that same course- my first painting being in 4th grade under the direction of Peggy Goldman who taught me how to stretch canvas, create a composition, and paint, and then had me do so by myself.

  It’s amazing to see some of the paintings of his wife. You could tell through the gestures how much he loved her. It’s refreshing to see that when so many other artists lacked that kind of family bond. I could see how the family enhanced his work in ways the masters never achieved.

  As he listed the artists that inspired him- the barouque artists, Rembrant, Da Vinci, and most of all Caravaggio I got really excited because those are the artist that particularly have shaped my work. Recently I have really grown to love Caravaggio’s work. I can see the way Walter Rane uses light like those old masters- like in Rane’s piece “Five of Them Were Wise”:
  

  In terms of texture, composition, light, color, gesture, and emotion, I am convinced Walter Rane is one of, if not the, best artists alive. So much of his work is really new. He showed us a painting he had finished a week or two ago of Joseph Smith’s first vision (in Utah you can see the Church preparing for his 200th birthday next year). It is absolutely amazing. This painting to me is the most accurate portrayal of the first vision I have ever seen– not because it looks like Joseph or is doctrinally explanitive, but because you look at it and you feel like you are in the woods during a cold spring morning. You see Joseph Smith, and his posture makes him look like a fourteen year old boy. The mood of the whole piece is one of mixed apprehension, anxiety, and excitement. It isn’t just a warm fuzzy experience- it is a daunting, exhausting, and beautiful experience. You don’t see God or Christ in this painting, but you look at it and know that Joseph Smith did see God and Christ.

  Walter Rane is a genius of posture. The gestures and body language of his figures show so much. In many of his paintings of Christ he only shows Christs hands or somehow gets you to focus on the hands partly because he is daunted by the task of painting Christ, but also because the gestures say more. I think part of his mastery of the gesture and the human figure comes from his experience in illistration.

  I love the way, too, that Rane paints angels. I love the way he portrays them . . . ahh I could go on and on. You’re probably sick of me going on and on about Walter Rane, but I was really excited to see him. I actually introduced myself after the lecture and he gave me his address. It was a really cool experience.

  Christ Visits the New World:
  

  He Anointed the Eyes of the Blind Man:
  

  Seeing his work on this computer screen just cannot compare to seeing his work in person.

  • 2:09 am
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