Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Rapid-Fire Painting

Chilean street artist Fabian Gaete Maureira can bang out a painting in a minute.
(Direct link to video) He blends gradations and knocks in forms with his fingers, and then saves the brush for birds and tiny details.


From Best of Youtube and BoingBoing

The Chinese artists who mass-produce couch art in Dafen, China, are almost as fast: They can produce 20-30 paintings in a day. More at Spiegel Online's article: "Van Gogh from the Sweatshop"
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Thanks, Roger
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14 comments:

  1. ColeJanuary 10, 2012 at 3:51 PM

    Holy crap he's like Bob Ross on crystal meth.

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  2. Perry Renarldo Singletary Jr.January 10, 2012 at 4:12 PM

    Gotta go fast!

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  3. Tom HartJanuary 10, 2012 at 4:25 PM

    Boy, these things are food for thought. There's something to be admired(or is there?). Parlor trick, craft, or art?

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  4. Jeff ZJanuary 10, 2012 at 4:45 PM

    I saw a couple guys doing this sort of thing for tourists down in Cabo San Lucas Mexico, and I thought "Learning some of this sort of thing could really speed up my concept painting..."

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  5. ArahmyntaJanuary 10, 2012 at 4:58 PM

    It does kinda put to shame all of us who agonize over a single picture.

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  6. ZeitwolfJanuary 10, 2012 at 5:19 PM

    I know I sound like jealous spoilsport, but I don't consider this very creative. Sadly enough he might perhaps do more creative art when not sitting on a street, but nobody would pay him a dime for it; while this conveyer belt mass production of junk pays his rent.

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  7. Torbjörn KällströmJanuary 10, 2012 at 6:58 PM

    To be fair he seems to follow the same formula in every painting. "Sky, water, trees, bird, done!" Still cool though. :)

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  8. David YanchickJanuary 10, 2012 at 10:26 PM

    I really hope that paint is non-toxic. Did you see his fingers!

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  9. Lee SmithJanuary 10, 2012 at 11:35 PM

    Does anyone else feel like I do when they hear about Chinese art "factories"? I get a feeling of dread, like we will all end up not producing or doing anything because it will all be done in Asia. Seems alarmist, but I'm sure the textile, auto, steel, and other industries poo-poo'd that notion too, shortly before it happened to them. There will always be a market for well-made American (insert product here.) Famous last words. Sorry for the pessimism, but sometimes having a positive attitude is really a euphemism for denial.

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  10. David StillJanuary 11, 2012 at 11:24 AM

    Sure, it's a touristy trick and more craft than art, but so is the show of a very, very good puppeteer, and we don't expect him to write game-changing plays. I think just because he's doing pictures, we as visual artists expect him to obey the "rule" that unique composition is more important than technique. And I find that a bit elitist. I also agree with Jeff, imagine if you could use a similar technique, with finger, brush or wacom tablet, to spit out 10 different composition thumbnails in as many minutes!

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  11. David StillJanuary 11, 2012 at 11:47 AM

    To clarify what I mean, here is a video of another kind of street performer: http://youtu.be/CtztrcGkCBw

    Now, he doesn't really use those balls to make a meaningful commentary on the human condition, but he's very good at what he's doing. In fact, I would go as far as to say the ONLY reason this video is worth watching is because he's so good at it. The difference between this and Fabian the finger painter, is that in his case the viewers can buy a nice original painting as a memory of the show.

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  12. James GurneyJanuary 11, 2012 at 12:45 PM

    David, I have to agree with you, and I don't mean to be elitist or to disparage the work. It fills a need, as all forms of art do. And whenever art-making appears on video, an element of performance has to enter in. And this is an amazing performance, no question.

    I think Lee expresses a feeling that I bring to watching the performance, though--making me ask myself how much is replicable in what I do, and and how unique I suppose my own art to be. As many of you said, I also wonder how I could speed up my execution without losing the vision. In the end, though, when there's no camera watching, whether a person paints fast or slow, directly or indirectly, the final work is what matters.

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  13. Gregory LeeJanuary 18, 2012 at 7:57 PM

    The examples of Maureira's paintings are much like the fluorescent kitch on black velvet I've seen in tourist shops, but I'll bet he's doing that because he knows he can sell it. If he knew you wanted something nice, maybe he could do that for you, too. His facility sure is impressive.

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  14. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2012 at 9:27 PM

    By the appearance of his knuckles, he is also either a street brawler or a mechanic.

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