"Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul."
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh is one of those artists that you know a little about, either for their tragic and disturbed life, or for their paintings that have become recognized around of the world by different means such as advertising, commercial, decorative, among others.
But did we really get to know the artist fully? The answer is, it will depend on where you want to know, to what extent you want to know it and what would be your conclusion about it. Speaking for myself, I knew how little, that he was a madman who cut his ear for a woman and who painted, and that he painted the well-known "The Starry Night", the truth is, I hadn't had any interest in knowing more about his life, until one day I came across the animated film “Loving Vincent”.
Be amazed and enchanted by the animation, as each scene in the movie was hand painted by different artists. It was like navigating between Van Gogh's brushstrokes and paintings, it immersed me to appreciate his paintings and the life that was inside them, how he represented that life through vivid colors and full of movement, it was a magical sensation . The film does not present the life of Van Gogh directly told by the artist, but does so through different characters who knew him in a brief moment and until his death, where they tell the life of Van Gogh from their own experience, thanks to this we can see different perspectives of who Van Gogh really was. By watching the film I was able to better understand the artist and connect with him, I no longer saw a simple madman who painted, but someone disturbed who was treated unfairly, who did not appreciate his talent, but much less his determination and courage.
I couldn't help feeling identified with the artist at certain points, seeing the film inspired me to want to feel all that color in the style of Van Gogh, it inspired me to become Van Gogh for a day. So taking advantage of the carnival festivities where everyone dresses up I had the idea of this photographic project where I would dress up as Van Gogh, my idea was to keep my essence, but dressed and painted in the style of Van Gogh, also to give it a touch of my roots and from the city where I live, that is why I baptized this project as Van Gogh in Caracas Can you imagine Van Gogh in Venezuela?
For these photos I asked my friend Laury Volcán for help. For these photos I felt that a canvas was needed. What kind of painter would you be without a canvas and paintings? So I wanted to do my version of The Starry Night, which I will talk more in detail in another post, I took an old shirt from my dad and dyed it, painted and finally painted my skin in the style of Van Gogh, took my briefcase and without anything else to say, this was the result of that magical day.
Photographs: Laury Volcán
Assistance: Jose Calandra, Christian Mijares and Reinaldo Ramirez
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