"Gourmand" - 2024 25" wide x 30" tall Wood, oil paint * SOLD
Gourmand was a spin-off from my recent work "The Crossing",
Both works “broke” the rectangular containment role of a ‘frame’… giving the frame an active, and more leading role in the content of the work.
Gourmand sort of evolved with a free-association self-dialog, it went something like this:
• “Okay, the ‘frame’ is the subject, and I’d like to alter or break it from the rectangle…”
• “What does a frame make me think of? What is unique to a frame?” —---> “Wood”.
• “How can I play with this “wood-ness” notion? What things might alter/break wood?” —---> “A beaver”.
…. You can see I was on my way.
So, Gourmand emerged from play, and eventually (as art making usually does), it began to evolve, taking on new or different meanings as I spent time with it. Initially, the development of Gourmand had immediate iconoclastic suggestions for me… (the beaver's activity as a satirizing of art/culture).
As the piece developed, however, the whimsical “iconoclasm” message lost interest for me,
As I played up an idyllic landscape setting, the landscape staging itself became symbol for me “the beautiful picture”, viz. the bounty & cornucopia of our natural world. — So in the end, “Gourmand” had taken on for me a more relevant conservation message;
... a reminder that gluttony can bring utter loss to a beautiful situation.
---------------
gour·mand | ˌɡo͝orˈmänd |
noun
a person who enjoys eating and often eats too much.
Gourmand was a spin-off from my recent work "The Crossing",
Both works “broke” the rectangular containment role of a ‘frame’… giving the frame an active, and more leading role in the content of the work.
Gourmand sort of evolved with a free-association self-dialog, it went something like this:
• “Okay, the ‘frame’ is the subject, and I’d like to alter or break it from the rectangle…”
• “What does a frame make me think of? What is unique to a frame?” —---> “Wood”.
• “How can I play with this “wood-ness” notion? What things might alter/break wood?” —---> “A beaver”.
…. You can see I was on my way.
So, Gourmand emerged from play, and eventually (as art making usually does), it began to evolve, taking on new or different meanings as I spent time with it. Initially, the development of Gourmand had immediate iconoclastic suggestions for me… (the beaver's activity as a satirizing of art/culture).
As the piece developed, however, the whimsical “iconoclasm” message lost interest for me,
As I played up an idyllic landscape setting, the landscape staging itself became symbol for me “the beautiful picture”, viz. the bounty & cornucopia of our natural world. — So in the end, “Gourmand” had taken on for me a more relevant conservation message;
... a reminder that gluttony can bring utter loss to a beautiful situation.
---------------
gour·mand | ˌɡo͝orˈmänd |
noun
a person who enjoys eating and often eats too much.