In recent times, English painter David Hockney’s painting A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998) was painted on 60 canvases (a polyptych) that abut each other. Earlier, English painter William Hogarth (1697-1764) painted A Rake’s Progress (1735), comprised of eight paintings, which do not abut or touch each other. While Hockney’s diptychs and polyptychs are intended to be viewed or read all at the same time, as though they are one big painting (a synchronous reading), Hogarth’s works comprised of multiple canvases are intended to be read one after the other in a proper sequence because they represent a story, much like the panels in a comic strip. In this painting workshop, we will experiment with these formats of the diptych and the polyptych, as well as with the triptych (a work comprised of three panels or canvases). We will also explore the difference between synchronous arrangements of multiple canvases or panels so that they are viewed all at the same time as one image, as well as sequential arrangements of canvases or panels so that they are read one at a time in sequence. Students may work on wood panels, sheets of primed rag paper, canvas boards, or stretched canvases, as well as in their choice of painting media.
Keith has an MFA from the Univ of Wisconsin, and has been a continuing ed instructor at RISD, and through the Learning Connection for many years. He is a painter/print maker who exhibits his work internationally, and who brings much art history and practical hands-on knowledge into his classes.