Fire in the Sea: Bioluminescence and Henry Compton's Art of the Deep

The Art of Hank Compton

14 • The Art of Hank Compton mark anderson S ome time ago, David McKee asked if I would come to his office to look at some paintings. I didn’t know what to expect. What he showed me when I arrived were paintings on panels stacked in cardboard boxes. As I recall, some of them were in paper envelopes; some, separated with newspaper. Even though the boxes had not been kept in climate-controlled environments (essential to the preservation of works on paper on the Texas Gulf Coast), the paintings were in good shape. David explained to me that Hank Compton was an artist by night who owned and operated the Oso Pier, which occupied his days. He obviously had a passion for, and familiarity with, a wide range of fishes, and it was the examples of deep-sea species that so impressed me. It is that grouping that amazes me in the Fire in the Sea work of Hank Compton, the self-trained “closet painter” who never showed his work but painted with the skill of a trained professional , the imagination of an artist, and the passion of a marine biologist for his subjects. Einstein is said to have remarked, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” What is visible in these amazing paintings is not only the intimate knowledge Compton had of each fish or creature but also the imagination to place each one in an environment that was varied from piece to piece and the skill demonstrated with the brushes and the manipulation of the painting medium, gouache (opaque watercolor). Based on the materials—illustration board and designer ’s gouache—and the stylistic qualities, I was sure they were done in the 1950s or early 1960s. The term “gouache” comes from the Italian word guazzo, meaning “water painting” (how appropriate). The medium is more opaque than watercolor due to the higher percentage of pigment and, in addition, has a chalky medium added to it, which increases the opacity. Gum arabic is also added, which acts a binder for the mixture. The paint dries by evaporation and can usually be remoistened or ground in water. The transparent glazing method of watercolor uses the white of the paper for whites and tints of color, while the opaque method relies on the addition of white pigment for whites or tints of color. Gouache, however, can be diluted with water to create washes, which allows the white of the illustration board to penetrate through to lighten the tonality. Compton used all three methods of application to create his works. The wash, or fluid, method is especially evident in the ground (background) of many of the pieces. One can easily see the lightness and transparency of the tinting, which relies on the white of the illustration board rather than white pigment. Figuring out how Compton did the rest of the image is much more difficult, despite the reality that he was self-taught, not formally trained in art or specifically in painting. Close examination reveals a sophisticated layering process not unlike printmaking or batik techniques. Compton used a liquid rubber art masking material that, when painted and allowed to dry, acts as a resist. Since the masking material is not water soluble when dry, watercolor or gouache can be applied. When the paint is dry, the rubber masking material can be rubbed off, revealing any color that might have been painted on previously and protected by the mask. The composition of two boarfish and the incredible organic forms functions dramatically with the live elements silhouetted against the dark background. The morel-like tubular forms appear to be emitting puffs of phosphorescent matter. The left-to-right McKee_Book 1.indb 14 10/15/13 12:46 PM • 15 Indo-Pacific boarfish (boarfish per Compton) McKee_Book 1.indb 15 10/15/13 12:46 PM 16 • Starry smooth-head (slickhead per Compton) McKee_Book 1.indb 16 10/15/13 12:46 PM the art of hank compton • 17 movement of the fish is supported by the leaning, crosshatched tubes, the descending ocean-floor line, and the diagonally leaning strokes of the dark background. Although the surface of the ocean floor is subtly lighted by that same phosphorescent matter that settled, the fish are bottom lit from...