The Art of the Portrait. Masters Showcase. Aapo Pukk

My subject is a mime. An actor from the street of Venice in Italy. He is standing inside an improvised column that is really a veneer box, imitating marble. He is wrapped in a bed sheet with folds and creases in it. His face is covered with a thick layer of paint.

He wears a plaited headdress of white cloth that resembles a cap and covers his hair. On the street in front of the marble column he has a box so that passers-by could put some coins into it. On his face he has a grimace that might remind one of the French writer Voltaire.

The statue started to grow on me after I had met him. It is not just a picture of him, it is a picture dedicated to him. The way he acted opened something within. In addition to that, several field lines met here. The academic statue of the writer and a philosopher from the age of Enlightenment symbolizes here the classical realistic approach to an object. At the same time he is a present day actor in the street presenting this 18th century wit.

He does it in a subtle way, not overdoing it and not leaving much to the viewers imagination. He is an ethereal marble statue, seeking contact with passers by. He is vibrating on the borderline separating comprehension and incomprehensibility, recognition and obscurity.

And here you can observe an aspect of modern art – just a seemingly handless and bodiless head on a strange mound. A head grinning both at the present day and history, attacking yet vulnerable at the same time.  
And finally there is his fight for his existence.

 A Man from Venice. 2006, Pastel on paper 31 x 46.8 ".

Read the full Interview:

Questions for Awards Master Showcase.

Christine Egnoski, Executive Director Portrait Society of America
interviewing artist Aapo Pukk.

CE: What can you tell me about the model/subject for this painting?

AP: He stands absolutely still. The narrow street is full of tourists. Many just pass by. When someone happens to come close, Voltaire startles him or her with his sudden change of posture and grimace. If possible, he tries to kiss the tourist, leaving a white mark on her cheek.  
Suddenly a group of high school students stand in front of him, it is morning and they are playful. Carefree young people perhaps on their first trip to Venice. One mischievous student is trying to show off, pretending to grab the money box. The others laugh. Voltaire does not move a muscle. The showman continues, coming close to the statue, raising his fist and moving it in slow motion under the statue’s nose. The others laugh again.
The actor loses his temper. He steps out of the column. He raises his fist holding it above the bragger’s head. The boy also raises his fist. The statue addresses the Italian schoolboy in English with a Russian accent: “I am an actor and this is my job. It is a job like any other. If you want to fight, I can do it.”  The youngster is confused. The others don’t laugh any more. Two men face each other with raised fists.
“What next”, I wonder watching the scene. “You have to say that you are sorry,” I shout from the crowd. The Italian boy doesn’t hear me but the others do and tell him. “I am sorry,” says the boy who started it all. “Well, it’s fine,” the white statue says after a short and dramatic pause, smiling. They shake hands and the group, a bit subdued, moves on.
The statue squats, taking a box of paints out of his bag. He checks his makeup in a small mirror and steps back into the column. His breast of white marble moves slightly and then he is absolutely still once more.

CE: Do you have a specific procedure you follow when starting a painting?

AP: I try to start a project from as clean a sheet as possible. I feel the freshness of a new picture, it is like starting the first picture in my life once again. I bought a new box of pastels. It held so many different shades that I had almost forgotten. The beginning is always dynamic, emotional and more colorful than necessary. The general picture had to leave some space for the details. At the same time one should not lose the general idea in the details. I had to achieve a technical approach that did not make the surface texture and the technique more interesting than the hidden message of the picture. In order to achieve a spatial effect I observed the picture from different angles. From below and from above, from left to right and the other way round. This trick makes it possible to balance the things that are important and those that are not.

CE: Where did you receive your art training?

AP: I have learned and practiced my whole life. At first out of curiosity, then out of selfishness, wanting to prove myself, now out of curiosity again. My first school was the Children’s Art School in Tartu where my mother was a teacher. Even now, she is 74 and I am 46, we have heated discussions about a half finished painting of mine. Then for 6 years I studied graphic arts in the Art University in Tallinn, Estonia. Then I practiced the sense of composition as a magazine designer. After that I became a freelance portrait painter. I have done it for 18 years. Nowadays practice is not so important for me because I know that I can paint and draw. Finding oneself as an artist is another thing; you may not achieve it by practicing. You may realize what you want by thinking, observing, and by your attitude. At first I did not know the artist I would eventually become. However, I did know exactly the kind of artist I did not wish to be. I knew both what style I did not wish to paint and I knew also what lifestyle I did not wish to live. Now what I have I am content with and I grow with each project.

CE: All the portraits had a type of engaging quality that went beyond likeness. Do you recognize that within your own work?

AP: Capture the finished painting and the painted object in the same frame. Then photograph them together. Then observe the photograph closely. If the painting seems more interesting than the object then one can be pleased. You have surpassed reality. You have managed to put a fragment of your convictions into the picture. It has some compassion and empathy. It has more depth that the present moment.