John O'Hern is an arts writer, curator and retired museum director who is providing a weekly contemplation of a single work of art from our gallery. In our fast-paced lives overflowing with information, we find it necessary and satisfying to slow down and take time to look. We hope you enjoy this perspective from John.

A contemporary artist, Kent Williams reveres art and artists of the past and sometimes incorporates their work into his paintings. In his 84 by 144-inch diptych, Self-Portrait as Rodin's Striding Man, with Appendages (Redux) 2000, 2018, he becomes a sculpture of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917).

“I’m a huge fan of Rodin,” he says. “He’s in my top 5. I can’t imagine anyone having more love and respect for his work than I have. I understand it so completely, I feel I could be a sculptor. I never pursued it, however, because of time and being committed to the next show or whatever. I’m the person who wants to do it full on, not just pick at it. I want to see what I can do, fully.”

He relates that when Rodin exhibited his plaster model of “The Age of Bronze” at the 1877 Paris Salon, he was accused of casting the figure from a “commonplace” live model. The naturalistic pose and modeling went against the grain of those preferring the idealistic poses and musculature of classical sculpture.

The following year, Rodin began modeling “Saint John the Baptist Preaching”, larger than life-size to prove his ability.

Rodin was inspired by and collected fragments of classical sculpture and said, “these divine fragments . . . move me more profoundly than living persons.”

Rodin used fragments of his own sculpture to create “L’Homme qui marche”, the sculpture Kent used in his “Self-Portrait . . .” The Musée Rodin in Paris relates, “This work with a complex genesis illustrates how receptive Rodin was to the English sculptor Henry Moore’s belief that an artist should ‘reconsider and rethink’ an idea…. [T]he sculpture was conceived in 1899-1900, using studies for the torso and legs of Saint John the Baptist, dating from 1878 . . . The resultant figure is marginally out of true; the torso leans forward and swivels slightly to the left. The impression of movement is heightened by the barely perceptible inaccuracy of the adjustments.”

Kent remarks, “Life is fragmented. It’s not as simple as I first imagined. It’s a battle to stay organized. When I was finished with a show, I used to clean up my studio and start fresh. I used to have the time. Maybe as you get older, time does go faster.

“Most of my art deals with the human condition and is sometimes wrapped around myself and where I am. That touches on things a lot of people experience and feel. Being able to relate to someone else going through similar things can bring comfort to people –knowing you’re not alone.

“In 1999, I chose Rodin’s sculpture “L’Homme qui marche” (The Striding Man), to use as a vehicle for what I was going through—a deep dark place.” He made several paintings on the theme, with himself as a striding man. “The sculpture is fragments, and I had to represent my own fragmentation at the time.”

“I was going through that dark period from a variety of things. My biological son and my adopted son were young and about the same age and, in my dark place, it was hard to deal with their being cholicy, crying, teething. But I discovered how that stage leaves fast, and another stage arrives and passes. When you realize they pass, they’re easier to deal with.”

The painting depicts him striding forward (“I’m going to walk out of this dark period.”). In a disjointed way, he holds the hands of his sons. “My boys are important to me,” he says. “It was my burden, not theirs. I never wanted them to feel unsafe. They didn’t know what I was going through or what I was showing in the painting. When they came into the studio to model, I gave them brushes to paint a little along the bottom of the painting.”

When he turned to the painting years later, he felt it was unfinished. “My ideas had developed without losing the thrust of the piece,” he says. “I thought that I would take away and obscure things. The big white shapes were a new abstract element, my first pass at obscuring. I would take it farther as time passed.”

Today, drawing is an important part of his process. “I’ll start painting,” he says, “and, if I’m successful, I’ll maintain the drawing aspect while allowing myself to be bold with the brushwork. I want to maintain some of that linear suggestion and straightforwardness. The act of painting, though, wants to push away from the simple line drawing. I work in many layers. Each pass is very broad, and the painting starts to refine itself in certain areas. If I begin to lose what I like, I sand it back down to a certain degree and knock enough paint off to allow the line to show through.”

The poet and writer of fiction, Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), known for the best acerbic wisecracks, was also observant and had more profound insights, writing, “Art is a form of catharsis, emotional release, purging, cleansing, purifying.”