Martin Arnold’s Brief Encounters is seen at the University Museum in Oxford, Miss., Monday, March 23, 2015. (DM Photo | Cady Herring)
Eight women fill the empty space. They’re real – too real to hang so placidly in their canvases.
One girl sits in a wedding dress that doesn’t quite fit, her legs crossed in front of her and an opened Coke bottle beside her. She stares, straight-faced and emotionless, ahead.
Two women stare dejectedly at the viewer; their eyes are tired, their clothing rumpled – every facet of their figures scream for rest.
The title of Martin Arnold’s exhibit, now on display at The University of Mississippi Museum, is “Brief Encounters,” but that’s not what the figures suggest. They seem to be the work of life – elation and suffering, innocence and pride, all fragile wrinkles and listless, curious eyes.
“The title, ‘Brief Encounters,’ alludes to that alarm we all experience when our eyes accidentally lock onto another’s,” Arnold said. “In that split second, as we are suddenly caught without pretense, a substantial amount of information is subliminally exchanged. I am attempting to freeze-frame this fleeting split second and, in the absence of any facade, allow viewers to penetrate the psyche of the person before them.”
Arnold said this deeper layer of representation evolved from a lifetime of studying people. He said he has tried to paint with hired models before but it did not render the desired effect.
“I am not satisfied with merely documenting someone’s external, physical beauty,” Arnold said. “I could care less if a model’s face is symmetrical or whether or not they are considered pretty or handsome. I much prefer painting people that fall short of perfect – people that are believable.”
Instead, Arnold reaches out to people he meets – men and women he passes in everyday routines, going to Wal-Mart or a laundromat. Arnold said he summons the courage to approach these people and tells them about his project to paint character, not just physicality.
“Throughout the process, I engage the model and try to infuse my painting with this utterly unique personality as it gradually reveals itself,” Arnold said.
This leads to a range of ethnicities, livelihoods and dress – a wider assortment of the life around him. The only connecting factor between the women is the lack of shoes. Arnold said he “felt that bare feet made these subject appear even less formal and ostensibly more approachable.”
The organization of the women forms a disjointed semi-circle. Every figure stares at the viewer; every eye is held by their demanding gaze – except one.
One monochrome woman sits with her back turned, her face decidedly against the canvas. Where every other woman gives away some piece of herself to the artist and the art, this one rejects the attention. She is unknowable.
“While this model and I were exploring a variety of poses, I suggested that we take a break,” Arnold said. “She immediately slumped into this position, and I instantly knew that this was the composition that I wanted to paint.”
Though the works were created individually, this piece, “Nicole,” serves as an unwilling centerpiece to the collection – it is impossible not to stare. Every other woman dares you to approach her, to disturb her decided, sullen indifference.
Arnold said he hopes each of these pieces function as “psychological mirrors” for the viewer.
“Each observer has a slightly different experience and explanation,” Arnold said. “Interestingly, an observer cannot project something that is not already resident in his own psyche any more than a projector can project an image whose slide is not already in its carousel.”
Arnold said he hoped this would produce a sense of commonality with the viewer and the subject.
“Our world is often referred to as a ‘Global Village,’ but I feel it is becoming more and more like a global lifeboat with all of us crowded aboard,” Arnold said. “We are all in this together.”
Arnold said while painting the subjects, he hoped to transfix the viewer in the same emotion he felt while painting it.
“I owe viewers the same thing that I expect when I view another artist’s work, to stand where the artist stood and feel what he or she felt as they painted,” Arnold said. “I strive to make the space occupied by my subject feel like it belongs to exclusively to this subject, like an extension of their physical self.”
The eight women went on display at The University Museum on March 10; the reception for the collection will be held at 6 p.m. tomorrow as part of the Oxford Art Crawl. This will be a return to Oxford for Arnold.
After designing automation machinery in an engineering environment for 37 years, Arnold returned to school to earn a bachelor’s of fine arts degree from Mississippi University for Women and, later, a Masters of Fine Arts degree at The University of Mississippi. He is now a professor at East Mississippi Community College and a professional artist.
Arnold said that, having attended many Art Crawls himself as a student, he is excited to be on the other side of that event.
“I love the concept (of the Art Crawl) and the unique chance to experience Oxford area’s art and talk with the artists and art lovers,” Arnold said.
Arnold will host a lecture for students, faculty and community members on his approach to portraiture at noon Wednesday at the university museum.
“The person who exerted the greatest influence on my approach to painting was my professor at Ole Miss, Philip R. Jackson,” Arnold said. “I developed his genuine appreciation for realism and, although I never quite acquired his patience, I did manage to absorb a degree of his work ethic.”
Perhaps, in this return, Arnold will pass this ethic on to a new generation of artists under the steady gaze of the painted portraits.
