Testosterone (pastel) by Polly Castor
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At the risk of shocking some of you blog readers–please don’t be offended!– here is my newest abstract painting in pastel. It is the last painting I did in 2018, and because of the subject matter, I’ve been dragging my feet finishing it. I finally did yesterday, to get it off my easel, and start fresh in the new year.
The idea here is that I needed an example of more a provocative abstract work in my powerpoint on abstraction. So here it is, Testosterone, done in pastel. Testosterone isn’t an idea, it is a thing, so this isn’t abstract conceptualism per se, but it is something we know is there but do not see. Everyone would paint this differently than the next, however, just like a concept in abstract conceptualism. Rest assured, though, that I won’t assign this to anyone in any of my classes.
This painting is 16×20 and the original is for sale– it won’t be hanging on my wall!
There is some great texture and technique here, as you can see in the close-ups below. The entire work is above.
If you are interested in a print of this work or merchandise with it on it, get it here in my gallery.
Now that I’m done embarrassing myself, I’ll get on to painting something else!
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5 Comments
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I’m laughing! You certainly captured the subject matter and no offense taken! Keep up the good work… no pun intended. :-)!
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No need for embarrassment! It’s a great piece of work.
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While abstract art, as I understand it, transcends literal detail, I can’t avoid projecting various masculine images into this work . Above all, I’m intrigued by the origin of embarrassment and apology. Is embodiment embarrassing? Do we have in this work an incipient explanation for edenic fig leaves?
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Author
This made me laugh out loud. Maybe I should have titled it “Behind the Fig Leaf.” I like that idea a lot. Obviously I have no trouble with embodiment, or I wouldn’t have even done this. But I fear this is a misunderstood topic in Christian Science, especially regarding sensuality, so I wasn’t sure how this would go over. But I figure anything that kicks me off an idealized pedestal that I never asked to be on is good.
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A very convincing reply!
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