THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 28 : Harlequin

the student artist in 1972..

lots of Bauhaus influence from the Art history dept..

our boy has come up with a new idea..

a harlequin dice..

shake but don't stir..

it's a lotta work..

painting 12 of these dudes in gouache..

cutting out the plan of the cube..

ANOTHER UNFINISHED SYMPHONY

he will soon tire of the drudgery..

but not before hitting pay dirt..

Long fascinated by Harlequin, Pablo Picasso returned to the character with renewed intensity in late 1915. 

A chameleon-like trickster.. 

Harlequin must have seemed a fitting subject as the artist began to explore more realistic modes of representation alongside his Cubist experiments..

 

The present work combines the geometric abstraction of Cubism with a classical linearity..

he has made enough dice for a photo shoot..

he is using black and white Ilford 35 mm stock..

he realises too late that colour would have been much better..

but then much more expensive..

monochrome is the student way to go..

Symbolism: 

The Harlequin represented a mix of trickster.. 

and tragic clown.. 

reflecting Picasso's own personal struggles and complex emotions..

it's 1975 and our boy genius..

is about to graduate..

in graphic design..

you may well ask..

anyway.. 

he has distinguished himself..

he paints in oil on canvas in the graphics studio..

he does enjoy working with type though..

he's a typo ace..

but no-one would hire the Artist as a typographer..

he's too much of a seat of the pants creator..

a jester not a swot..

a prince at the dance..

and a dancing fool..

Harlequin.. 

one of the principal stock characters of the Italian commedia dell’arte; often a facile and witty gentleman’s valet and a capricious swain of the serving maid.

In the early years of the commedia (mid-16th century), the Harlequin was a zanni (a wily and covetous comic servant), and he was cowardly, superstitious, and plagued by a continual lack of money and food.. 

By the early 17th century..

 Harlequin had become a faithful valet.. 

patient, credulous, and amorous. 

This last quality often led him into difficulties from which he managed to extricate himself by cleverness and irrepressible high spirits.. 

He was amoral without being vicious.. 

and, unlike his fellow commedia servants..

he did not hold a grudge..

or seek revenge against those..

 who tricked or cheated him.

OUR BOY BEST OF ALL

our boy has created a rolling dice..

a chance of something..

will he make it in the real world..

will they pay the money?

shoot craps..

or throw a seven?

find out more about..

THE HARLEQUIN IN RESIDENCE

Pete the Charlie..

the boy with many names..

the boy friend..

he's a Dice Man..

an artist with too many styles..

there's more sides to this dude..

than you can.. 

shake a stick at..

but is he feeling lucky??