Pictured are two self-portraits by David Bowie.

By Darla McCammon and Darlene Romano

“Everything we look at and choose is some way of expressing how we want to be perceived.” -David Bowie

David Bowie was an English singer/songwriter, actor and painter. His work as a singer and songwriter had a significant impact on popular music and he was considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He was born on Jan. 8, 1947, in London, England, and passed away on Jan. 10, 2016, after having suffered from liver cancer for 18 months. He studied art, music and design before deciding to pursue a career in the music industry.

In the spring of 1976, when Bowie was 29, he was dating Iggy Pop, and they wanted to escape the changing art scene in Los Angeles, and decided to move to Berlin, Germany. In Berlin, they were exposed to the German Neo-Expressionist movement and it greatly inspired Bowie’s artistic style. He developed a love of German Neo-Expressionist art and his work was influenced by artists such as Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg, Francis Bacon and Francis Picabia. According to the Tate Gallery website, the German Neo-Expressionist movement was “an early 20th century German art movement that emphasized the artist’s inner feelings or ideas over replicating reality, and was characterized by bright colors and gestural marks or brushstrokes.”

Gestural mark making or painting in art terms is “characterized by vigorous application of paint and expressive brushwork,” according to www.Merriam-Webster.com. In the series of four self-portraits of David Bowie, the viewer can see how the paint or charcoal is applied using free-flowing gestural strokes that result from Bowie’s movements. The works each exude strong emotion that is a result of this method of painting. None of the images represent the reality of how David Bowie looks, but rather his feelings when painting.

For example, in the self-portrait in the top left, the viewer can see the very strong, green vertical lines down the face and neck of Bowie. This is not how Bowie looks in real life, but this is the artist’s expression of him. The color green itself is a bold color choice that also represents the artist’s interpretation of himself. These strong lines and bold color choices are typical in German Neo-Expressionist painting, and it is obvious how it influenced Bowie’s work.

Art Events

• See the ongoing exhibit of award-winning local artist Darla McCammon at Warsaw City Hall’s art gallery.
• Lakeland Art Association’s Fall Members Show is coming in November. For more information, contact Kelly Shoemaker at [email protected].
• Want to exhibit your art? If you would like to be an exhibitor at Warsaw City Hall Art Gallery, contact Darla McCammon at [email protected].