Where No One Has Gone Before by Michael Newberry
"God, I love this one!"
Pallas, prima ballerina and teacher.
I am lucky to work with the wonderful Georgie Leahy. In visual art beauty is like knowledge of light and color theory -- the more of it you have the more you can realize your imagination. We are kind of stuck as painters, if someone has a beautiful soul and a good heart it doesn't mean it translates visually if they are not beautiful. A painter can paint their humanity like Velazquez does with The Jester Don Diego de Acedo, a portrait of a dwarf from the Spanish royal household. My theory is that beauty is a spiritual tool, like an opera singer filling the theater with their voice while the character is dying. Their voice is the emotional spirit, not literally realistic.
The concept for this painting was inspired by title of the documentary Bernstein: Reaching for the Note. And what higher reach is there than the cosmos?
With the quarantine going on I cleaned up my mile-high mountain studio. I included a pic of Georgie, she looks like she is lit my a million watts.
Newberry, Where No One Has Gone Before, oil on linen, 2018, 64x46"
Michael Newberry, Idyllwild, 5/13/2020