Picasso, Portraits
LIVE-PAINTING Exhibition and WORKSHOP
curated by Izumi Fujiwara
The event features a live painting demonstration by Izumi Fujiwara, followed by a workshop where children can put into practice what they saw during the demonstration.
“Live Painting” is a technique that allows viewers to witness the creation of a painting in a short period of time. The artist, in front of the audience, starting with a large blank canvas, to the rhythm of the music and interacting with the audience, will complete a painting in about 45 minutes—a painting that will remain in the theater, in the city, at the festival, at the school… . and will serve as a guide for the next and potential workshop.
The workshop lasts one hour. After watching the artist’s demonstration, the young students will try their hand at the same task. With the artist’s guidance, the young artists will develop the assigned theme by applying painting techniques live.
A demonstration and a performance designed to stimulate imagination and creativity, so that drawing and painting become means of expressing their emotions in a way that is neither commonplace nor conventional.
The performance will be based on the work of the famous painter Pablo Picasso. Drawing inspiration primarily from the portraits of the famous Spanish painter and, more broadly, from the Cubist technique, the children will learn a fun and creative way to create a real portrait.
The artist will invite one audience member at a time to pose for a portrait. He will draw on separate sheets of paper, also using the children’s suggestions, the various parts that make up the model’s face, drawing inspiration each time from new forms suggested by emotion or the anatomical structure of the face itself. An eye can become a dolphin, for example, or the nose, a house, or an abstract object.
The sheets are then glued onto the large canvas to create a complete portrait of the face. With a second color, the artist unifies the composition, and with a third and final color, she strives to give the painted face a recognizable expression.
A characteristic of the artist is to start with a mark and develop it using external influences and stimuli—stimuli that, for example, may come from the children observing the work in progress.
This makes live painting an example of “structured” improvisation, the result of which is a painting, the fruit of the sensations experienced in a specific place at a specific moment.
In addition to being a form of entertainment/performance, it presents in a simple and direct way the technique that will be used during the workshop.
Under the artist’s guidance, the children will have the opportunity to create their own painting by applying the techniques of live painting.
The aim of the workshop is to teach children to express their emotions and to learn to recognize the emotions of others through painting and reading body language.
Format: Performance for all & Workshop for children
Duration: Performance: 45 minutes / Workshop: 60 minutes
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 15 children *
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF WORKSHOPS PER DAY: 2 (with a 30-minute break between workshops)
Workshop participants must have attended the performance. Participation in the workshop following the performance is not mandatory, but is strongly recommended.