Plutarch, the Greek historian who lived and worked in ancient Rome, cited encaustic as the epitome of durability: “A beautiful woman leaves in the heart of an indifferent man an image as fleeting as a reflection on water. After all these years, their likenesses are as vivid as ever. The staying power of encaustic is affirmed by the mummy portraits of Faiyum, dating from between the first century BC and the third century AD. The appeal of the ancient media isn’t only in what they can do, but also in how long they last. But my main medium has always been tempera, because it is amazingly versatile and potent and no other medium holds colour as well.” So I choose the medium according to what I want to achieve in the work. When I want to paint large paintings, I use oil because tempera doesn’t accomodate large-scale painting, as it dries so quickly. Speaking from his studio in Guelph, Ont., Danby says that his meticulous approach to painting first led him to the technique. He works almost exclusively in the ancient medium of egg tempera, made by adding pigment to egg and diluting it with water. Though hardly a member of the Canadian vanguard, the ever-popular realist painter Ken Danby also found his goals best met through ancient means. “I use whatever media best suit my ideas, and that’s what I teach my students.” “Each medium has its own character and should be used to enhance the concerns of your content,” White says. Michele White, who teaches historical techniques at the Ontario College of Art and Design, believes that the old, if properly used, can create something new. You use an old technique - encaustic, but also such outmoded media as fresco and egg tempera - to give your work added emotional, intellectual and cultural power. That’s the mandate of the avant-garde.” What do you do when everything’s already been done? If you’re like Scherman, you go back to ancient practices and reinvest them with a contemporary sensibility. If we’re to be part of a canon, then we can’t be part of the Starship Enterprise going where no one has ever gone before. Says Scherman: “Contemporary art has forced us into a difficult situation. And on June 5, Scherman brings his latest show of encaustics, called About 1789, to Toronto’s Sable-Castelli Gallery, after stops in Atlanta, Seattle, Dallas, Paris and Berlin. Next week, an exhibition called Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America,opens at New Jersey’s Montclair Art Museum. Since then, a number of contemporary artists have gone back to the ancient medium for inspiration. Since the fall of Rome at least, more mild-mannered media have tended to get the nod.īut encaustic has had a bit of a revival this century, especially with the 1950s flag and target paintings of American artist Jasper Johns. Accidents, as Scherman testifies, do happen. Instead of wielding just paint brush or palette knife, encaustic painters also have to balance a pot of scalding wax. The process takes time, skill, patience - and courage. I have been in hospital twice because of it and I’ve burned my hands.”Įncaustic is the stuff that’s got him hot and bothered.Īn ancient painting technique involving pigments mixed with hot wax, encaustic fell out of favour centuries ago. “And there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t curse it. “I’ve been working in this medium for 25 years,” declares Toronto painter Tony Scherman. Toronto - He’s got sticky fingers, and the floor beneath his feet is studded with balls of wax that give him the feeling of walking on suction cups. It’s one of several ancient media that some contemporary artists swear by. Hot and bothered: Encaustic is a challenging painting method that requires requires plenty of patience and skill - not to mention a pot of scalding wax. His interest in history and historical personages was well matched with encaustic, an ancient technique involving hot wax and colour pigment, as he td me when we worked together on the following article, resurrected here in his memory. His talent was as his grand as his subject matter- Greek mythology, the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte. He was a dedicated artist and a principled person. Encaustic painter Tony Scherman has died and art lovers everywhere will surely mourn his passing.
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