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The Portraits of my Models
When I am commissioned for a portrait, I prefer not only the face, but the entire position of the model. A true portrait for me is not just the features, but the person as a whole, the attitude of completeness. I try to find the person inside and become the voyeur. To paint the place where there is no modeling or posing for the artist, but for themselves. Their own self being, self worth and their own sensuousness.
My erotic work deals mostly with the real world, not fantasy. The secret places in all of us. Eroticism for me is not the display of body parts and what you can do with them... but the hidden, the covered and the suggested. A women sitting with legs slightly apart or adjusting her stockings is far more erotic than the nude figure.
For thousands of years artists have produced erotic works of art, from Grecian pottery designs to Picasso and Wyeth. What is Erotic is as diverse as the artists that create them.
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I strive to have many works in progress. My paintings take much of my time and energy. I tend to burn out working with intensity. To relieve myself, I turn to the sculpture studio, where there are works in progress. It is like my brain flips over and I start fresh and work in the 3 dimensions.
My sculpture exists, if for no other reason than to give me a breather from the painting studio.
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Paint can do what a camera cannot... extend the soul of the artist. |
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The woman lying on the bed, one leg tucked below her breasts revealing the slight hint of hair. The dark moistness allowing thought of last night. I need an erotic pose, I asked. So she stood there with legs spread apart and arms outstretched. "Like this?" she asked. "Is this erotic to you?" I inquired.... Dhe returned with "No, but I thought so with men.".
I am not man nor woman when I paint. I paint the model - the feeling of her.
She turned within herself a near mental masturbation, donned a T-shirt and panties... and spoke of the feel of cotton. Nipples erect, eyes closed, she lost herself...... And I painted.
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The camera is an attachment, the brush is an extension.... the result is art. |
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To not paint or create is akin to asphyxiation.... painting is my breath of life. |
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The frustration of being a painter, of course, relates to the fact that you are your own worst critic, you strive to make the reason in the painting as complete and true as possible. However, the frustration is not in the perfection of one piece of work, but the frustration of no time to work. All too often, while working on a painting, my mind is composing a new one. You are torn between stopping work on the one, and beginning the new. And this continues through your life - the frustration of not having enough time to finish all that you concieve. |
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Most of my work is finished before brush hits the canvas. I am constantly painting in my mind. I have lost time while watching a movie or having lunch or supper. My mind slips into it's own studio where the painting is worked on. I am constanstly asking myself, 'why paint in reality when the painting is already finished in my mind?'. The painter's challange is the marriage of the two. |
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I often feel that many artists, and specifically painters, question their worth. Not only in the art field, but in life in general. This questioning is the driving force that propels you to create more and more... not to prove your worth, but more to establish a relationship between yourself and that which is around you. And maybe describe this relationship to others.
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Biography
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" If every person could see, would we still have artists? "
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| David Kofton studied at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Graduating with a B.S.E. and a B.F.A. in 1967. He went on to teach painting and sculpture in upstate New York for five years. In the early 70's, Kofton decided to devote more time to his own artwork, and returned to his roots on the small, rustic island of Deer Isle, located just off Maine's rugged granite coastline. He created his own unique studio/gallery and home from a one-room schoolhouse on the Island which dates from the turn of the century.
His mediums include oils, wood and metal. David has had one-man shows of his work both in Maine and across the country, and since 1990 has participated in 8 group shows each year.
Recognized most readily for his work with the female figure, his paintings capture the emotion as well as the beauty of his subjects.
David's paintings have won many prizes and awards, and his oils and sculptures are represented in private collections around the world, including the Fuller Art Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts.
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