Large Groups Not Okay, Small Groups Okay?! (PANDEMIC SERIES 2020)
Oil on Canvas
9 x 12
2020
Not For Sale
You Do You !
Title of this painting is "Large Groups, Small Groups (PANDEMIC SERIES)." This series includes 26 oil paintings created during the 2020Pandemic. It is completely outside of my normal scope of artistic practice, as was much of what I painted in 2020 during the Pandemic.
When the Pandemic first began, I painted Winter and also painted L'Histoire, (in my artistic scope of practice), but then I had an interesting experience in early March 2020 when a well-known Los Angeles "contemporary art critic" viewed these two works as well as work from my Australia Gem Series. I was one of several artists who attended a "critique" by this renowned art critic, and while the critic commented that he found my work to be "especially beautiful" in person, he also stated that "Contemporary art is supposed to comment on what is going on in our time, social, political, etc." I scratched my head because the Australia Gem series was done in the palette of fire and had small images of kangaroos and koalas in the background. It was a response to the devastating wildfires in Australia in which millions of animals died. While Winter and L'Histoire painted during the 2020 pandemic had small round viral capsules - and in the latter - hidden crowns in bas relief floating around. Did he not see what these were about? I was mystified, but I took it as constructive criticism. And that impacted me for the remainder of 2020.
He made me realize that my references to nCV19 were at best obscure to the trained eye, and therefore I could assume eluded most people. So I added human figures, taking care not to restrict them to any age, sex or nationality (since the entire World was impacted by the Pandemic) by doing them in colorful silhouettes. I left the viral capsules (balls) in and made the crowns more visible, and I added the graphs we were seeing daily on the News. Now everybody would understand what this Series is about, I concluded. So from that perspective, the work is a record of history. But by the end of 2020 like everyone, I was getting tired of the Pandemic, the lockdowns and especially those graphs. Artistically speaking, I wasn't at all happy with how I'd spent the year - - - was anyone, really happy about 2020? So I decided to go back to painting my contemporary florals. My beautiful florals that everyone loves. And for those (likely the majority) who don't so choose to see any deeper meaning, that's okay too, because at least they still enjoy the beauty. And I enjoy painting them.
Finally, I should say that at the end of the day I do not feel that my time was wasted in 2020 on the Series, because I learned something very important. I enjoy painting "happy" regardless of what is going on around me. I enjoy painting "beautiful" regardless of the inspiration. The reality is what it is but how we choose to interpret it or translate it into our work is what's important. I learned that what's important at the end of the day, is that "You Do You!"
You Do You !
Title of this painting is "Large Groups, Small Groups (PANDEMIC SERIES)." This series includes 26 oil paintings created during the 2020Pandemic. It is completely outside of my normal scope of artistic practice, as was much of what I painted in 2020 during the Pandemic.
When the Pandemic first began, I painted Winter and also painted L'Histoire, (in my artistic scope of practice), but then I had an interesting experience in early March 2020 when a well-known Los Angeles "contemporary art critic" viewed these two works as well as work from my Australia Gem Series. I was one of several artists who attended a "critique" by this renowned art critic, and while the critic commented that he found my work to be "especially beautiful" in person, he also stated that "Contemporary art is supposed to comment on what is going on in our time, social, political, etc." I scratched my head because the Australia Gem series was done in the palette of fire and had small images of kangaroos and koalas in the background. It was a response to the devastating wildfires in Australia in which millions of animals died. While Winter and L'Histoire painted during the 2020 pandemic had small round viral capsules - and in the latter - hidden crowns in bas relief floating around. Did he not see what these were about? I was mystified, but I took it as constructive criticism. And that impacted me for the remainder of 2020.
He made me realize that my references to nCV19 were at best obscure to the trained eye, and therefore I could assume eluded most people. So I added human figures, taking care not to restrict them to any age, sex or nationality (since the entire World was impacted by the Pandemic) by doing them in colorful silhouettes. I left the viral capsules (balls) in and made the crowns more visible, and I added the graphs we were seeing daily on the News. Now everybody would understand what this Series is about, I concluded. So from that perspective, the work is a record of history. But by the end of 2020 like everyone, I was getting tired of the Pandemic, the lockdowns and especially those graphs. Artistically speaking, I wasn't at all happy with how I'd spent the year - - - was anyone, really happy about 2020? So I decided to go back to painting my contemporary florals. My beautiful florals that everyone loves. And for those (likely the majority) who don't so choose to see any deeper meaning, that's okay too, because at least they still enjoy the beauty. And I enjoy painting them.
Finally, I should say that at the end of the day I do not feel that my time was wasted in 2020 on the Series, because I learned something very important. I enjoy painting "happy" regardless of what is going on around me. I enjoy painting "beautiful" regardless of the inspiration. The reality is what it is but how we choose to interpret it or translate it into our work is what's important. I learned that what's important at the end of the day, is that "You Do You!"
* Original Not For Sale *