The part I hate most about being an artist is trying to name my stuff. And calling everything “untitled” is just lazy. So anyway, I am submitting these two paintings (which I just finished tonight) to a show on Monday and have to come up with names for them. Right now they have the working titles of “winter silhouette” and “candlelight”, respectively (snore).
They are both of my son, both based on photographs that I took. If it helps any for context, the first one was taken in Washington DC a couple of nights before I moved to Atlanta. This was my special night to take Dominic out–we went to the Natural History Museum and then for dinner in Chinatown. It was cold and the manholes were billowing steam. He was staying in the DC area (Virginia) with his dad to finish out the school year, so it was a goodbye of sorts. The second one was taken for photography class and has no real context other than I thought it would look neat to have him in the dark holding a candle (I have a whole series of these candle photos, and eventually want to paint a couple more of them).
So… anyone feeling creative? The titles can be artsy-fartsy/mysterious or descriptive or whatever. I’m open to all suggestions!
As a great movie fan I’ll go for two quotes from favourite movies:
Forget it Jake. It’s Chinatown. Chinatown
Put…the candle…back. Young Frankenstein
Love the first painting. The second one somehow seems eerily familiar as though it’s a shot from a movie I have seen. Cool.
The first one just makes me think “Steam”. That’s it. Visually, the kid is there and dynamic and exciting, but all my brain says is “Steam”. I’m wondering if it’s the verb, not the noun.
The second one, my first unthinking word association is “Puck”. If I let it go further and intellectualize it, I see him as a bit otherworldly - playful yet serious and more than a little bored, and holding a glowing world in his hand, gazing at it for a while, absorbing the story, while not yet decided if he wants to go interfere with the mortals to amuse himself.
Play with it as you will, or rumple it up and throw it in the cyber-trash.
Wow. I am not an art person, but I keep looking at the second picture, and it keeps changing on me. First he’s haughty, then he’s scared, then he’s peaceful, then he’s worried. I now have a dozen stories in my head of who he is and what he’s doing. I can’t stop clicking that tab and looking at it again, and every time, he changes. Right now, he’s wise. A minute ago he was searching.
I don’t know if that makes it “good art” or not, but it’s making me like it a lot more every time I see it.
Heh. Except I really want to make sure that people do NOT think that something destructive (explosion, bomb, etc) is happening in that first picture–I think that interpretation ruins the painting. Whatever I name it, I want it to emphasize the peaceful side, if not come right out and state directly that it’s steam.
If it makes you feel better, I am scheduled for cataract surgery Monday. I have to look at the screen a little bit at a time with my eyes about 3 inches away from the screen to see anything. Next week I might have an entirely different response.
What struck me about both of them was the light. I suppose you could name them something obscure to try to sound profound (‘Labyrinth’s Transformation of the Afterlife’) but what came to me was way simpler. For the first Glow: Billow (or Night) and the second Glow: Flame
For number 2, I like “Trust” because to me, the boy looks like he trusts the light to do any number of things for him: illuminate, warm, scare away the shadows, etc.
City Fog, Mystical Winter Night
Magic in the Fog
Visiona In the City Fog
Mystic’s Portal
Surender to the Fog
Enchanted
Enchanting Flames
Spellbound
A Light In The Dark, A beacon To The Soul
I expect to see a shadowy cat figure where you son is pointing in the fog.
I really love getting all of these suggestions. It is helpful, plus it is very interesting to see what other people get out of a picture.
To that end, I’m going to add another. This one is a photograph, which I am also entering into the show. And yes, it’s my son again: Photo Needs A Name
Btw, I just got home from having all of these framed… they look so spiffy framed!
