VIEW IN MY ROOM
United States
Painting, Oil on Wood
Size: 24 W x 24 H x 1.5 D in
Ships in a Box
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"Bison" is one work of my cave art series that resurrects primeval art. To express my love of animals, nature, and ancient cultures, my pieces re-interpret the primal power and beauty of scenes from prehistoric caves in France and Spain. Most works of the series were fashioned while in my own "cave" during the COVID lockdowns and an 11-month-long isolating illness. This particular piece re-creates one section of the Altamira cave (14,500 B.C.) in northern Spain. The original Cro-Magnon shaman artists brilliantly coalesced the elements of abstract visual language -- composition, color, texture, line, shape, form, and pattern in their simplest expressions -- to fashion reverential masterworks of the lives, movements, and spiritual energy of the animals of their world. In my interpretation of "Bison," I used modern painting methods, though the prehistoric technologies were quite inventive. My stucco base affects the uneven surface and cauliflower texture of limestone caves. The shaman artist lined the images with charcoaled burnt wood; I used a purplish black oil paint. The choice of the original cave location capitalized on the stone's natural protrusions to create three-dimensional body shapes (shoulders, hinds, etc.); I used lighter colors like white and lavenders to suggest rounded girth. The original bison image was among scores of Altamira's ceiling images that were painted over the course of 20,000 years. Depending on lighting in contemporary photographs, many look orangey, a paint color created from iron oxide mixed with bone marrow. Nevertheless, the bison -- arresting, steady, and upright -- shines among those galloping or wallowing in grounded fetal position. My interpretation further builds up his power and glory. While the other animal images are muddy in color, the bison is electrified via a striking contrast between velvety red ochres, cabernet reds, and violets against a yellow ochre background. Framing techniques of a golden white body halo and renderings in four corners (clockwise from top left: bison hind, wallowing bison, and receding bottom ledges) evoke an enshrinement and honor the shaman artist's possible intentions. Cultural experts hypothesize that the cave's works were part of rituals to contact otherworldly spirits. If so, I characterized this beauty of a mighty beast as a likely chief channel. Framing is not recommended as it would hide the spillover of stucco over the edges as part of the creative process. However, the sides are painted in a cabernet red to affect a finished look. Comes with hanging hardware.
Painting:Oil on Wood
Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork
Size:24 W x 24 H x 1.5 D in
Frame:Not Framed
Ready to Hang:Yes
Packaging:Ships in a Box
Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.
Handling:Ships in a box. Artists are responsible for packaging and adhering to Saatchi Art’s packaging guidelines.
Ships From:United States.
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United States
I envision my oil paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and mixed media as I have embraced my writings as a world-class journalist: each piece is an adventure of striking dramatic impression. I fashion understandable images that combine realistic, representational, abstract, and Pop Art approaches. Within this framework, I quest for something fresh in subject matter and presentation. When conceptualizing, I ask: "What might make the work memorable? Can a story be told? What might provoke conversation?" Some responses: vivid rich colors and vibrating color contrasts (as inspired by Matisse and Van Gogh), chiaroscuro style (grazie to Da Vinci and Caravaggio), mirrored effects, humorous animal narratives (motivated by Matisse again), reverential animal narratives (divined from Chauvet and Lascaux cave art), comical concepts (thank you Pop Art), universal goddess imagery, and strong palette knife marks, energetic brush strokes, and textured effects using impasto and stucco to affect a permanent look and feel of landscape subjects, especially stone and rock. Born and raised in Chicago and currently living in San Diego after 30 years in Los Angeles, I am also a traveling artist inspired to plein air paint the romantic Renaissance skyline and gardens of Florence, Italy; the kaleidoscopic mesas of Abiquiu, New Mexico; and the sexual and sensual lines and shapes of the Death Valley dunes in California.
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