Cherchez la femme - Print version

Copyright © Michael Alan Coakes

All rights reserved.

Edition 1.1

Book design by Michael Alan Coakes.

Throughout my life, in every aspect of it, I’ve been surrounded by women. It’s like living inside of a kaleidoscope of beauty and wonder.

There’s a French phrase ”Cherchez la femme”; look for the woman. Essentially it means a woman is the root cause or reason for everything that happens and I found it to be true in my art. No potential subject could offer so much inspiration and be so universally captivating to viewers.

Since the time when I was a child, most of the people in my life were female. The one prominent exception was my maternal grandfather and he impressed it upon me that, among the important things in life, none was more important than women. They were (are) the “Raison d’être”; the reason for living.

I create art to celebrate women and when my images appeal to women, either because they relate to the subject or they’re pleased by her portrayal in my work, then I feel like what I’ve created is a success.

SOULS

I’ve been preoccupied with the my perception of “souls” lately. I believe our bodies are the “homes” for our souls from lifetime to lifetime.

We’re given these bodies to test our souls. Without a body our souls can’t experience physical pain or pleasure. They can’t have the interactions and experiences that determine are we a good soul or not.

Are we empathetic and compassionate to the trials others face through their physical beings?

So we’re given these bodies which we should tend to in the interest of prolonging their usefulness but eventually they will fail and “die”. Our souls will carry on and be given new bodies to start the testing process again.

I believe if we’re lucky enough and aware, we recognize those souls from past “lives” when we meet them again and it feels like finding a long lost friend that you have a bond with that goes beyond words.

“The aim of art is to represent, not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”

— Aristotle

Throughout much of my work ... I’m interested in creating images photographically that don’t appear to be photos.

Souls

Souls

Souls XII

“A picture is a poem without words.“

— Horace

Souls

TISSAGE

With the “Tissage” series I’m interested in capturing a moment. Giving the viewer a look into the world of a woman who is very much in her own space. It’s simply about a moment between the future and the past.

Throughout much of my work and especially with this series, I’m interested in creating images photographically that don’t appear to be photos.

These images are shot through a large burlap panel to achieve a painterly, semi-impressionistic quality that renders the subject anonymous though still relatable.

The fabric panel shifts the focus from her identity to her state of mind. It gives a sense that, rather than looking at the image, we’re looking into the image.

One of the most interesting aspects of working on this series was having had the fabric barrier between the subject and myself (she couldn’t see me) gave her a sense of freedom to simply be herself, lending a certain honesty to the image.

Tissage Crystal

“For now she need not think about anybody. She could be herself, by herself.

And that was what now she often felt the need of –to think; well, not even to think. To be silent; to be alone.”

— Virginia Woolf

To the Lighthouse

Tissage

Tissage XII

Tissage VII

THE ILLUSIONS OF PSYCHE

In this series of digital mixed media images the female figures represent the Greek Goddess Psyche.

Her form is born from an ink blot much like those used in the psychological testing that Rorschach was famous for. The subject’s form becomes a part of the abstract allowing the viewer to determine what exactly it is that they “see” when looking at the amalgamation.

Here the ”ink blots” were created using India ink and watercolor paper which was then digitally scanned and merged with the photographic image of the model.

“Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees.”

— Marcel Proust

ESSENCE

Essence XIV

Essence XVIII

Anais Nin once wrote of the differences between men and women stating that when a woman leaves a room there’s a resonance or essence that remains in the air. A wisp of intrigue that lingers in her absence.

With this series of photographic images I’m rendering the figures as part of that wisp.

Essence I

Essence XII

Essence XXIII

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

— Pablo Picasso

Essence VIII

Essence XV

FEMMES DES BOIS

Femmes des Bois II

Femme des Bois III

Femmes des Bois (Women of the Woods) is a series of images recalling fragments and incongruous elements of a forgotten dream.

We’ve come upon this figure the way we might a grazing fawn. Something of a unicorn, she is of this place but evasive and seldom seen.

Femmes des Bois VII

Femmes des Bois VIII

LIQUESCENCE

Liquescence II

In virtually all of the figurative work I do my primary motivation is to portray women as strong, confident and inspiring.

Often, in discussing my work I’ve referred to the “fluidity of the female form” rivaling any other beauty found in nature.

This series of photographic images takes that phrase as its inspiration and allows me to render these figures as something mermaid-esque. Rather than being part fish they are themselves gracefully flowing forms.

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see .”

— Edgar Degas

MISCELLANEOUS IMAGES

“What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit.”

— John Updike

Manipulation

“The one thing not worth looking at is the obvious.” — Oscar Wilde

Raison d’être

BIO

Michael Alan Coakes is a visual artist born in Ft. Worth, Texas and raised in Aurora, Illinois – a suburb of Chicago. His art studies began at a very early age.

Through frequent visits to the Art Institute of Chicago he grew up with the influence of the 60s and 70s pop art and an attraction to a diverse array of artists from Picasso and Dali to Mucha.

Finding and honing his own style in a number of mediums including drawing, painting and photography, he has benefited from the mentoring of a variety of schools including The American Academy of Art in Chicago.

His work has been shown in more than 70 group and solo exhibits throughout the last ten years and is part of personal and public art collections internationally.

SPECIAL THANKS

To the friends, models and collaborators —

Adrina, Agnes, Alexis, Ali, Amber, Anna, Anoush, Astrid, Avery Lee, Brennan, Christie, Corinn, Crystal Jade, Crystelle, Elysia, Emily, Janet, Josie, Kat, Katie, Melissa Jean, Roarie, Sadie, Svala, Sylwia, Tamaki San, Teala Marie, Tiana, Veronica, Victoria, Viktoria and Whitney.

A heartfelt thank you for helping me bring my visions to life!

And above all, my eternal love and appreciation to Cindy, for everything, including her enthusiasm and support of my artistic endeavors.

michaelcoakesart.com