The harder they come…

I am finally finishing a painting that has taken at least five months to figure out. At first it was about a groundswell building up into a victorious ascent. (Not surprisingly, this was started in early November 2008.) The painting became increasingly problematic, with the layers weighing down the bottom and the theme of jubilant victory never quite becoming realized.

 

After much deliberation, I turned the canvas upside down and pretty much started over, while retaining a few pieces of the earlier painting. The result is a top-heavy composition that somehow, at least in my opinion, works in a precarious way. Since the eye travels in a downward motion when viewing the painting, I felt it would be apt to focus on the recent fall of large financial institutions. 

 

In a departure from my other abstracts, I have assigned symbolism to some of the colors used in the painting. The bronze in the upper third connotes currency, while the cerulean evokes the luxurious idylls of the wealthy or the color of that fictional utopia, Shangri-la. And as if symbolism weren’t enough, for the vindictive literal-minded, you may choose to read into the picture a company jet, packed with a bunch of AIG execs, plummeting from the sky.

 

This painting marks the debut of my newest tube of paint, quinacridone crimson. A shrill pink, it is the most flagrantly flirtatious hue I’ve ever seen. The paint’s transparency also makes some wonderful things happen during the application; it is a wonderfully tactile and responsive medium.

 

Here is a photo of the entire painting as it stands now. I feel the inadvertent curve in the crossbars needs to be corrected, but for the most part it is done.  

 

 

Here is a close-up.

 

 

And here is an even tighter close-up.  

 

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