Kung Fu Motion

I have always been inspired by the hidden world nature keeps behind the curtain. I am especially interested in what our limited senses omit from reality. What would our reality look like if we were not constrained by time and space. What does the word look like to other creatures? other intelligent life in the universe? Is it the same or would math be the common thread of communication?

Marcel Duchamp was also curious and painted the controversial Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 in 1912. combining elements from the Cubists and the Futurists.

I have always loved this painting because it is not only a wonderful painting in terms of composition and color but there is brilliant thinking behind it. He was by no means the first artist to incorporate movement into his work, in fact cave paintings from Lascaux Cave in France date back some 16,000 years ago blurred animal drawings to indicate motion.

So when I came across this beautiful motion visualization by Tobias Gremmler that uses motion tracking and 3D software to visualize the movement of King Fu masters Lee Shek Lin, Wong Yiu Kau, I felt I really needed to challenge myself and create a painting from one of its frames. Motion also means a lot to me as not only as a motion designer but as a former Disney Animation intern. The principles of animation learned there soon made their way into my thought process. Here is the video below, take a look, it is stunning.

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those cats were fast as lightning
In fact, it was a little bit frightening
But they fought with expert timing

- Carl Douglas

Painted in acrylic in 2023 for a painting show in Boulder highlighting movement, the 35.5” x 23.5” canvas was found at a Goodwill and soon became a challenge. I just moved my studio to our basement which was nice, not as nice as the space I used to work in which my wife took over 😠 but I made it work.

I started it like most all my paintings by blocking out the large shapes first. I mostly always work like this, working from general to specific. This helps with the overall composition for me which is super important. I love shapes, forms and how they live on the canvas. The colors for this work were simple, thank the gods because it soon became very complicated once I started adding in all the details. Someday I will try to create a color version of another movement. Please subscribe to check out that process.

The final work was a great success, lots of people gravitated to it during the opening although no one bought it ☹️ But if you want to buy it, it’s hanging on my office wall.