Every Stroke of Pencil or Brush Is a Decision

by  Christian Joseph-Angelique

A picture has a meaning automatically.   And I work intuitively.   Sometimes I’ll do the same picture to improve the technique, but then it’s lost its spontaneity.

A picture must stand for itself.   A painting must tell what it wants, must hold everything at once.   (You could have a triptych, or a cartoon with different pictures telling a story, but those are something else.)   A painting must be complete, must explain everything you want in one image.   Ocean Beach Drum Circle: Giving Shape to the Wind

When I started to paint, I understood: a picture can stand for thousands of years, because there’s something unique in it.   There must be a plus in it.

A Search

I define myself as an imagemaker-illustrator.   I search for representation—of anything.

I find new styles.   Then it looks like I’m mixing them together—sometimes.   I’m mixing styles, because in empilage for instance, there are things I haven’t figured out how to represent—yet.   The Inception of Empilage   Or maybe it’s because mixing the styles together is for the picture.   It’s complex.

Every picture takes an amount of energy and is an amount of energy.   When I’m looking for a picture—when I’m drawing or whatever—if I feel I can make this picture, it’s because of the amount of energy I have that would be needed to accomplish it.

Every new picture is a research.   I research all the possible options to achieve the picture, because it’s like being a pioneer: you don’t know what you’re gonna get.   You’re in an unknown land, and you have to be open to what comes.   That’s why they say a picture is never finished.

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