This is 'Bouquet Garni', a lithograph from 1975, the same year he moved to a remote village in Haute-Provence, where he still lives. He considers himself a 'graphic artist and pictoral satirist'.
The aspect I like the most about his work (this piece in particular) is the shear volume of fine detail. Here he contrasts strong, bold lines for the beak, with gentle, organic flicks on the bouquet itself. My work is similar to his in that he keeps black and white as the majority, with just a little colour to keep things interesting. This works to show the amazing drawing talent Searle has, he doesn't need bright colours to carry his work.
The composition of this image is very simple, a straight forward centre alignment, but that’s all it needs. It has no context because it is a metaphorical drawing which isn’t based in any one place or time. There is an even amount of negative and positive space, the bird being white balances this out. If the bird was filled with colour it may not be so harmonious. Odd as it may seem, the two signatures at the bottom seem to anchor the image, it’s almost resting on them.
His work is often humourous, which I am very jealous of. I want to draw more satirical/ caricature type drawings, even the fountain pen has been nipped and tucked to give it personality. I hate how I can never come up with anything humourous with my drawings, the only solution is to put things like this up on my wall to stop me slipping into my old ways of not really THINKING about what I’m drawing before I draw it.
It feels like a shame that it’s obviously a photo and that the edges are curling, it would have been nice for it to be well presented; even nicer to be able to zoom in to investigate the detail. Having said that, there is some charm in knowing it’s a photo. When images are completely organically made (rather than computerized) they can lose quality when scanned in as you get tempted to try and perfect it by lightening areas and adjusting the colours.
There is a pleasant contrast between the botanical accuracy of the flowers and the stylized fountain pen and bird. The bird almost seems to be sat on a cloud. The bird’s tail is inspiring to me because it isn’t drawn in a “safe” way with outlines and shading, it is splashed and scratchy – he was confident he would be happy with it first time.
A buquet garni is a bundle of herbs tied together to flavour soups and stocks, which can be removed easily when they’ve done their job. I can’t help wondering what this has got to do with Searle’s image. The plants in the bouquet aren’t herbs but roses and other garden flowers. Unless he is showing how plants in a garden are like a bouquet garni, that intensify the flavour and improve a garden. In that case, what does the pen represent? It could also be to do with writing of some sort, possibly poetry or creative writing. The pen is quite a large aspect of the image, surely it is symbolic of something. There are three main elements all working together, I just can’t work out what they all mean.
This has already affected my work and my way of working. In response to researching Searle I created a painting of my dog Poppy which is also on my blog and now in my portfolio. I will definitely look at Searle’s work in the future as it led me to do work which I am genuinely pleased with and happy to show people, which is a rare event. I will also look at other artists who use humour and satire in their work to begin to understand their way of thinking and how I can begin to bring that into my own work. I will also experiment more with ink. I have used ink in the past and very stubbornly believe I don’t enjoy using it, I have changed and grown as an artist since then. Now I have found artists’ I like who use inks maybe this will encourage me to go beyond the first hurdle, the first tantrum, and just LEARN how to use it. Previously I have only seen ink being used to throw around the page and smear into a picture, now I have seen how gentle and controlled they can be, and not EVERYTHING has to involve a computer.
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