It has been more than 10 years now, since I stopped taking photographs for magazines. I had worked as a photojournalist for 30 years until times were changing for the worse. The great art directors were dead or jobless and the surge of my output was constantly being curbed by the world. Furthermore journalists had assumed enormous control over the meaning and use of my work. When printed my essays were unrecognizable to me. Since I was no longer in charge of my own work, I realized I was in the wrong profession. I began to take photographs solely for my artwork, my books, my paintings and sculptures. So I went back to what I had learned to do as a school boy: to draw, paint and sculpt. Now, ten years later, I can say it has been the most incredible struggle. Of course, there is no going back - 30 years of photojournalism have influenced my mind and eyes in such a way that today I have the urge to paint recognizable reality without resorting to photorealism. I am now starting to paint new big pictures and have decided, partly due to studio space, to sell some of those already done. I have so many ideas and so many pictures concepted, it would take 3 life - times to get them done. I love to paint, create my own forms and space, surfaces, lines and light and dark. Suddenly, aside from painting I am sculpting these forms, eager to embrace them, and put them into space. Many of my bigger projects deal with violence and war. With my paintings, sculptures, drawings, photography, and of course my books I will pursue these themes as long as I can. It is obvious that boys are the carriers of my feelings and thoughts in much of my work. For me, they represent change and the possibility of a better world. With my work I want to draw attention to their potential, if given a chance to develop peacefully.
-Will McBride
Die Gemälde und Skulpturen von Will McBride
Die SPannung in den Gemälden von Will McBride ist so intensiv, als
st¨nde sie beständig vor der Explosion. Sie verdankt sich den
starken, leuchtenden Farben, der eigentümlichen Darstellung und dem
ungewöhnlichen Sujet gleichermaßen. Der Maler, der als Fotograf
bekannt wurde und ebenfalls Plastiker ist, schildert die ungesicherte
Welt heranwachsender junger Männer. Ihre schwankenden Gef¨hle, ihre
noch undefinierte Sexualität, ihre unterschwellige Gefährdung, ihre
ungest¨me Ausgelassenheit und ihre Unbefangenheit teilt sich den
Gemälden und Zeichnungen in erfrischender Unmittlebarkeit mit. Und
die Skulpturen verleihen den jungen Körpern die vagabundierende
Erotik. So prekär wie die Welt, die sie vergegenwärtigen, sind die
Werke- Gratwanderungen. In der Kunst der Gegenwart eine selten
gewordene Risikobereitschaft.
Klaus Honef
Bonn vor Weihnachten 2005
