May 11, 2010: Painter blind from birth
 

http://cellar.org/2010/armagan1.jpg

Painter Esref Armagan is in a unique situation: he's been blind from birth, and yet, manages to produce these paintings that are accurate perceptions of reality.

http://cellar.org/2010/armagan2.jpg

From the biography section of his website:
Amazing.

Adapting a Ray Charles joke here:

Do you know why Esref is always smiling?

Because he can't see that his paintings suck.

Actually, I am impressed.

How does he get the colors right?

How sad...he's blind and can still paint better than me. Nice!

You would think he would need some kind of assistance just to know what colors are what. Incredibly impressive though. Like Beethoven composing music.

I would imagine over the years he has learned (been told) that pears (that he knows by touch and smell) are 'green' or 'yellow' and probably has his paints and palettes set up a certain way.

maybe he;s synesthetic.

Possessed of synesthesia or not, if he has been blind from birth, how does he know what a watermelon looks like? Or that it's red on the inside, green on the outside, with little black seeds? I'm calling bullshit. Somehow. Somewhere.

That said, I can't paint for shit.

Probably from listening to stuff like
"O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June; etc"

I think they're paint-by-numbers.

I agree with Gravdigr. How does a person blind from birth even understand the concept of color. Without a point of reference, can anyone explain the color blue?

Squirrel, Spudcon ... you two stay the #$%& out of my PhD thesis, okay? :death stare:

How do you perceive color? Because someone told you 'red' is red.

I don't think it's that farfetched to think someone told him what color things are, and that he organizes his paints in a way to use them. That's Blind 101.

Or maybe it's a big grand scheme. He's not REALLY blind, and he doesn't REALLY paint.

edit: at least no one cried 'shopped! :lol:

:p:Shopped!

So, they give out PhDs in bullshit down there. :rolleyes:

I think it was in the movie Mr Holland's Opus. (maybe not)
But one person was explaining colors to another using alternate senses. IIRC (probably not) Blue was like a stone and red was something hot.... That sorta thing. Yes it was just a movie and I still don't get how it relates to painting.

Now I wonder why I even shared this. Oh well...

I don't think they need to understand the concept of color, as long as they know what colors other people perceive things as. In the world of color, it is like rote memorization...not creativity of color such as Van Gogh, and requiring a different kind of talent and tasking.

Wow! Blind since birth and he's STILL a better artist than Andy Warhol.

I think one has to understand the concept of color, as well as depth, shading, and most importantly, nuance.

Look at the slight shades of green on the bottom of those not quite ripe bananas. Or the thin white stripe between the rind of the watermelon and the 'meat' of the melon. The slight reflection of the light source in the grapes. I don't know if someone blind from birth could "get" that, regardless of how thorough an explanation or description they receive.

Also, (while I'm being difficult) I've seen some people on TV, doing something a blind person shouldn't or couldn't be able to do. But, the thing is they're "legally blind", not completely, totally, always-in-the-dark blind. Seems there are various shades of blind. And, that, to me, is some form of bullshit.:rant:

Of course, a blind artist could go all abstract on yer ass...

Funny hypnosis/NLP on color perception with Derren Brown:
Watch the whole thing

I'm gonna go all abstract on YOUR ass! :p:

A lot of questions could be answered if he would consent to being videoed while painting or painting on a live show (quiet set of course).

Of course, if he is actually 100% blind, you may not need his permission at all to quietly set up the video camera:rolleyes:

Got my wish... sort of.

Apparently in 2008 Volvo did a documentary of sorts on Esref where they filmed his process for their new S60.

http://www.facebook.com/Volvo#!/Volvo?v=app_4949752878

also at - www.facebook.com/volvo

Yeah but, somewhere along the line somebody had to tell him what colors are, and where they go. Then had to supply the colored paints labeled for him to distinguish which is which. They also had to explain shadows. Oh, and that bananas are two colors.

That said, in doesn't take away from the fact that what he does is fucking amazing, even without color.

Yeah, but their other senses are heightened, so they can totally smell you setting up a video camera. :p:

red, yellow, green, brown, and tan inside.

Let's not forget a lot of great artists were insane

I appreciate the optimistic vote of confidence that it would take "heightened senses" to smell me.

Your point is well taken, so this would be a two man job. I have a buddy that farts like a lumberjack who could throw him off the trail.
While Esref is clearing his head I will set up the video camera.:D

Get him all set up then turn the lights off..

I think that was from Mask.

No, it was Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.