The principal subject of Christopher Drabicki’s paintings is the art of painting itself. He attempts to get inside the process of artistic creativity, reconstructing the way the old masters achieved their astounding results. How they selected colors, achieved special visual effects, composed the scenes, what they originally planned to do and what they eventually did. After hundreds of years, Drabicki retraces their route. He follows their brushstrokes on canvas and tries to imitate them in minute detail. In other words, he evokes the spirit of old masters. He even occasionally restores the original projects, erased or painted over by the artist, detected while the painting was exposed to infrared rays.
Johannes Vermeer’s output is the main source of Drabicki’s artistic experiment. X-rayed canvases reveal the original projects: “A Maid Asleep”, “The Milkmaid”, and others. Drabicki puts on canvas parts that have been rejected by the artist, and covered by paint.
How would well-known paintings have looked if the painter had stuck with the original design?
We can see the “originals”, as we know them from museums. We also have an opportunity to review attempts that were ultimately abandoned. Which is superior? What design was considered to be better by the artist? Was he right? We are witnessing the painter’s struggle with his artistic idea. We see his hesitation, searching for better composition. Drabicki’s art gives us the opportunity to see both “original” and rejected artistic concepts. Different pictures. Which is better? Which is more interesting?
Czeslaw Karkowski - Art critic, writer, and translator.
Professor of Philosophy and Sociology at Mercy College, Westchester, NY, and the director of Polish Program at Hunter College, NYC.
