Year: 2012
Medium: oil stick, fire and soot on c-print mounted on panel in artist’s frame
Dimensions: 62.3 x 92.8 cm (24 1/2 x 36 1/2 in.)
Acquired from Phillips, 2024
Although as an artist who primarily works in painting, Ancart has also created many sculptures and occasionally produces more experimental pieces such as this one. The basis for the work is a photograph taken from a swimming pool overlooking a view of the sea with several islands. There appears to be some discoloration around the central island; the technique used by the artist would lead one to believe that this is actually the result of heat applied by flame. There are places where black soot has adhered to the surface of the work. Colors, suggestive of oil sticks which Ancart often employs in his paintings, have also been dragged across the panel as if stroking it. There are spots of paint, seemingly dripped on, and then many scars of scratches from something like a sharp hook. What would otherwise be a typical photograph of a holiday scene is shifted, through Ancart’s hand, such that the mental image ultimately projected onto the viewer is completely distinct from anything to be found in the underlying photograph. A similar feeling sometimes arises from Ancart’s paintings, where the artist opts for colors and compositions far removed from the realism that others might expect.
