Art & Inspiration Blog

This is my first Essence Portrait of myself.

This self portrait was created as I needed it for a video on the Essence Portrait series. As I worked on the upcoming video slides and script it became apparent that a portrait of me was glaringly missing and that just using my photo or film of myself was weird within the context of the presentation.

Yet what finally motivated me to concentrate on myself, when my natural gaze is outward, way from myself, was the accidental fall I experienced a few weeks ago, which resulted in stitches on my forehead, a large bandage wrapping my head and now a scar. My face with black and blue eyes, puffy, and bandaged intrigued me as a painter. I lack vanity being a natural born clown,  so I found the look most interesting and inspirational to paint. The bandage reminded me of van Gogh’s self portrait after he lost part of his ear, only his bandage was vertical and mine horizontal.

However it seemed bizarre that my first self portrait would be of myself as the walking wounded.

The strokes are all from the words of Psalm 19, my favorite. The initial Essence Portrait was of Andy Warhol and that one is also created using Psalm 19 for the strokes. It seems appropriate for Warhol also. To date these are the only two of my Essence Portraits that use this psalm.

This is actually a double self portrait as like my other works I signed it with my self portrait signature logo. The video about my signature logo portrait is embedded below this new basic Essence Portrait below.

Psalm 19 (Judy Rey Wasserman) Essence Portrait

Creating the new Post Conceptual Art Essence Portrait of Abraham Lincoln was an exceptional experience. The humanity and goodness of the man seemed to permeate the images I used for reference as well as my own. Like when a reading  good book, I lingered at the end, almost unwilling to end the “encounter”.

As a part of the Essence Portrait series I am creating portraits of selected American presidents and heroes. I use the Ten Commandments, the original letters of the words of Exodus 20 for each and every stroke. This honors the office of the president, as the chief executive administers the federal laws. The Ten Commandments are widely acknowledged as being the basis for the laws of the USA and also of most of the free word.

There is nothing that I can write in this blog that is wiser or more revealing about Abraham Lincoln than his own words that live on.

Some of his quotes below will surprise you. They are familiar, but you may not recognize that they originated with Lincoln.  Some of the quotes reveal his sense of humor and wit.  Most are wise and wonderful.

Abraham Lincoln- Ten Commandments

By Judy Rey Wasserman

Strokes: Exodus 20

Abraham Lincoln Quotes:

• If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
• Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.
• The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.
• A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.
• If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.
• A house divided against itself cannot stand.
• Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.
• The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.
• No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.
• All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.
• It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
• Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
• Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
• My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.
• Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
• As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
• Y ou can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
• America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
• Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.
• Public opinion in this country is everything.
• Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.
• Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty , and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
• Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.
• How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.
• I care not much for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
• I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
• The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
• I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.
• To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
• The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
• T hings may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
• Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
• That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.
• I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.
• I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
• I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.
• I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.
• I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.
• I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
• I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country’s cause.
• I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.
• I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
• I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.
• To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.
• I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.

The first Essence Portrait of George Washington uses strokes that are the original letters of the Bible’s Exodus chapter 20, better known as the Ten Commandments.

So while it appears to be a portrait of Washington, this image is simultaneously the scripture text of Exodus 20.

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible. ”– George Washington

Following the tenets of the theory of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory the letters are used as traditional artists’ strokes, so the overlap, interweave and are not necessarily presented in any order, this the meaning is intrinsic but impossible to read. [Further information on Judy Rey Wasserman's new art theory is found in the free PDF download of the Manifesto of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theory, Click: “A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in its Strokes” and at http://ungravenimage.com ]

Creating a portrait of George Washington with a radical new art theory, perhaps the most radical ever, seems especially fitting as he was one of the most radical and revolutionary people who ever lived. He changed the world despite the indisputable fact that the odds were against him as he stood up to the then greatest most powerful country in the world: England.

“The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.” — George Washington

The Ten Commandments serves as the basis for most of the law of the governments of the world and certainly that of the United States of America . As such, it is fitting for the strokes of an Essence Portrait of any of the presidents of the USA. As chief executive the president administers the laws.

“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.” — George Washington

I am a great fan of George Washington and find him inspirational. If you follow me on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/judyrey ) you will see that most mornings my first greeting contains a sort weather report, such as, “Sun & warm here”. The idea for that actually derives from Washington ‘s own diaries, where the one update he was sure to log was the daily weather. Beginning with that grounding reference makes sense to me, too.

“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. ”– George Washington

Of course as an artist I greatly revere Washington and the founding fathers as the United States o America is the first country that offered full freedom of expression, commonly known as freedom of speech, to all artists.

“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.” – George Washington

Washington ‘s image on the one dollar bill makes him the USA ‘s most recognized president. Like the etched lines of the engraver’s marks, my strokes of alpha-numeric Torah font symbols appear in lines to convey features of Washington ‘s face, mapping him with the text.

“I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent. ”

Without Washington’s contributions as a general and then as the man who refused to be crowned as king, the USA and the world would probably not enjoy the freedom we have.

“Happy, thrice happy shall they be pronounced hereafter, who have contributed any thing, who have performed the meanest office in erecting this stupendous fabrick of Freedom and Empire on the broad basis of Independency; who have assisted in protecting the rights of humane nature and establishing an Asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.”

George Washington’s Ten Commandments Essence Portrait

by Judy Rey Wasserman

Now discover more about this art and available open edition print, plus see a close up of the strokes –> CLICK HERE!

For related articles see:

Celebrating the Anniversary of Washington’s First Thanksgiving decree http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2009/11/celebrating-the-anniversary-of-washingtons-first-thanksgiving-decree/

Barack Obama Ten Commandments Essence Portrait http://ungravenimage.com/blog/2009/11/barack-obama-10-commandements-essence-portrait/