What Francisco de Goya, Nick Cave, and Nathan Foley have in common.
I’ve been writing a lot of papers recently for my various classes, and once I finish this I should probably work on another one… but as a conversation with a friend recently reminded me: this website is a healthy outlet! and health is crucial when in the frenzy of finishing a semester strong.
Since I’m in the academic mindset as I write this, a fun thing to note is the drastic difference in ease of synthesizing topics you already know versus those you don’t. While for classes, I need to research nearly entirely new material for the topics the papers need to address, for this blog I can instead draw from all of the art I am and have already been experiencing. Because I already know so much (relatively, about art), and am actively learning and reflecting so much about art, it’s a whole lot easier to write about. Hence where the strange array of artists comes from. I can pull not only from new experiences that prompt the reflection, but also from anything previously absorbed. It’s fun!
Fransisco de Goya
Probably the most famous of the three (and definitely the most dead) the Spanish painter Goya lived from 1746 to 1828. This isn’t a history blog, so I’ll get write to it: This is how Goya painted at first…
Señora Sabasa Garcia, c. 1806/1811, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection
…this is how he painted when war broke out in Spain…
The Third of May 1808
…and this is how he painted after Spain fully was devoured by war and his health began to fail:
Saturn Devouring His Son
Let’s just say… his work changed. quite a bit.
Why did it change? Well, as a painter, he likely drew upon what he saw. He began as a commissioned artist, painting beautiful portraits, and gained popularity, recognition, and wealth through that avenue. As his country (that he surely loved) began to fall into ruin, however, his perception of the world changed. He started to relay that change through his paintings, now reflecting the disastrous state of his world. His health declining surely didn’t help, as his thoughts became darker and he painted his famous 14 “Black Paintings” never meant for publication. He seemed to draw his inspiration from two things: the State of his Country, and the State of Himself.
(As for why I know about Goya, I researched him for a Spanish project in high school. I’m sure he was quite an influential painter, I just never would’ve looked into his history if not for the assignment. It’s a bit dark for my taste. But hey, he helps prove the point I’m getting to…)
Nick Cave
My Ideation and Interpretation class (ART-101) was recently introduced to the “Sound Suits” works of modern artist (born in 1959), Nick Cave. He creates performance-based works that don’t allow for discrimination of race due to their full body-suit coverage and outlandish appearances:
Nick Cave’s “Soundsuits”
They’re wild, and there’s a lot to them, but I’m most interested in the button dealer. Pause. A button dealer? Yeah. When our professor introduced Cave to us, he showed us an interview clip that included the story of Cave’s unique need for buttons (for the suits of course). As he was searching, Cave just happened to run into this guy on the street selling a ludicrous amount of buttons. Perfect! that’s just what he needed! This guy he found actually had also recently purchased a button factory. What are the odds?? So now Cave had/has a source for thousands of buttons for his costumes. He made a connection, and that connection enabled him to create. That is, what helps him is his State of Connections.
Nathaniel Foley
That of course leaves us with the third artist, a friend and professor (at UIndy, not IWU, sadly), Nathaniel Foley, who prompted this post with his artist’s talk at the 22nd exhibition of his works titled “Flight of Obscurity” at Huntington University’s Robert E. Wilson Gallery which I had the pleasure of attending on November 15th, 2024.
One thing Foley talked about was how his Dad is an airplane mechanic and can collect discarded parts for his sculptures. (He also talked about his use of a gallery space and desire to avoid a sterile white box appearance, opting for the purposefully confrontational approach. And he talked about his use of form and angles to show motion. And how he has to fight gravity with suspension. And how the rivets and wire used are aircraft-grade, authentic to the real deal. And his limited implementation of color.) The key here though, for the sake of this synthesis, is the connection he has with aircraft. He made airplane models up until college (when he got busier) and was always around tools, working with his hands because his Grandpa and Dad were mechanics all the while. His connections and upbringing inspired his art. (See the dots connecting? Goya’s environment inspired his art, Cave’s connections inspire his art, and both Foley’s environment (growing up), and connections (family) inspire his art.) Even another element, the industry of aircraft itself, inspires Foley’s work. For example, the obscurity of the sillhouettes in his interactive booklets at gallery shows match that of military memorization of aircraft sillhouettes for identification purposes. Of course, the materials are directly pulled from the industry, and the motion represents that of planes in flight. So much is inspired by the material already out there, on top of his personal experiences.
When I asked Foley “what if your Dad was a auto mechanic instead of an aircraft mechanic? would you then make sculptures based on cars?” He nodded along and seemed to agree with the hypothetical. He believes what would have still been present, even if hsi work was based on cars instead of planes (or who knows what else), is the desire to work with his hands and create the forms along a similar style. But we’ll never know exactly how it could’ve happened, because we only have the product of what did happen.
If you haven’t yet pieced it together from my eclectic writing, the thing the three artists (and all artists, really) have in common is inspiration. Goya, Cave, and Foley all were influenced by their personal experiences, but they also all chose something specific to focus more of their attention on for continued inspiration. Goya - current events and his declining health; Cave - motion and the language of dance; and finally Foley - the riveting art of aircraft.
Therefore I will leave you with this: if your life feels asgiving you enough inspiration on its own…
just look up.
