Sebastian

Sebastian

30"H x 36"W x 5"D

Lacquer on resin, wood, hardboard, wire mesh.

(Private collection)

Another 1980s wall sculpture.

Please see; The Sun King, Eros Lost in the Wilderness, Liberty at the Barricades.

Liberty at the Barricades

Liberty at the Barricades

35"H x 47"W x 5"D

Lacquer on resin, wood, hardboard.

The figure in this piece is modeled after the one in the 1830 painting, Liberty Leading the People, by Eugène Delacroix. This is another of the wall sculptures I made in the 1980s. Please see, The Sun King, and Eros Lost in the wilderness.

Aegean Night

Aegean Night

20"H x 20"W x 5"D

Lacquer on resin, wood, hardboard, wire.

Another 1980s wall sculpture. Please see; The Sun King, Eros Lost in the Wilderness.

Eros Lost in the Wilderness (detail)

Eros in progress. 

(See April 9th post for final sculpture)

At this point in the process, working in clay, I had almost finished the figure of Eros. The next step was to develop the clouds. When all of the clay elements were completed, I made a plaster mold in which to cast the resin. The resin cast was then painted with lacquer.

Eros Lost in the Wilderness

Eros Lost in the Wilderness

lacquer on resin

20" x 21" x 2" 

(private collection)

This is one of the wall pieces I did in the late 1980s, and, when shown in Washington, DC Touchstone Gallery exhibition Sculpture for Walls, it received one of my best reviews.

“The strongest work was that of James Symons. His lacquer on resin reliefs, such as Eros Lost in the Wilderness, effectively combine classical and Neo-Expressionist references with a conceptual underpinning. A classical putto—referring to Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise—flies through puffy baroque clouds across the top; expressionist chaos changes the lower half of the painting. In the center is an image of a city flying apart; a row of spikes marches across the bottom. Potent both formally and conceptually, the piece works well in the small format.”

Susan Platt, New Art Examiner

René -Two Minute Poses

Pen & Ink with Wash, 15"H x 22"W 

At the Open Drawing sessions (see previous post), I usually use a pen and ink with wash for the shorter poses, and I make a number of sketches on a single sheet of paper. Each of the figure studies in this drawing was done in two minutes. 

Paula 2 Poses

Color Pencil, 15"H x 22"W 

Whenever I feel the need to get back to basics I try to draw using a model. Drawing or painting the figure from life is definitely a challenging visual exercise. There are several schools and groups in the area that provide the opportunity to work from the model. This drawing was done at one of the Washington Studio School Open Drawing sessions. They hold evening sessions twice a week with short and/or long poses. There isn't instruction, but there is a monitor who sets up and times the poses.