Verde adentro (The Green inside), by Jean Gler II
Oil on Fabric, 60 x 50 cm
Ofir Hirsh, 2006
The beauty in making your own rules is that you can break them without asking permission or being punished for it. So if I need to resurrect an artist identity which I invented 7 years ago, no problem at all, I just do it.
After 5 happy years in Las-Terrenas, my girlfriend and I moved into a new house. It was beautiful and spacious and near an amazing beach (Playa Las Ballenas). That same week, I ran out of both the linen and cotton canvas and couldn’t wait until our next trip to Santo Domingo, where I used to buy them, so I just went to the main street of Las-Terrenas, entered the “Subastadora” (known as the poor people’s store) and bought the only homogeneous fabric they offered. After completing the first painting, I just felt the spirit of Jean Gler kicking inside of me. I’m really not sure though, if it should be attributed to the “fancy” new house, the bottle of exquisite Whiskey we celebrated with, or otherwise my intent to compensate for the poor quality fabric with a prestige name like Jean Gler the 2nd. Since he came back, Jean Gler produced 9 more works and stayed around for a few weeks. On our next trip to Santo Domingo I managed to get my hands on a pretty “Lonilla”, my favorite crude cotton canvas. I then switched to my next identity.
What do I think about using a lousy fabric instead of a good quality canvas? I think that when artists have the choice, they should use the better quality canvas, mostly for the sake of durability. Yes, my experience tells me that a thick cotton canvas has better chances to survive accidents and various weather conditions than a thinner canvas or a low quality fabric. On the other hand, when artists don’t have the choice, can’t afford it etc., they shouldn’t wait, and shouldn’t lock their art. Taking it out is a crucial part of both the artist’s therapy and development. It may come out ugly, but just as well it may become a masterpiece. Greatness has nothing to do with the quality of materials.
