Crushed Coke Can, 10" x 8"
Lollipops, 16" x12"
Painting a coke can was interesting to me for a number of reasons. It's so ubiquitous - I wanted to know if I could see it differently, if I could really look at it and make it worth looking at. Crushing it allowed me to explore a structural problem - how to model the facets of light and the interference of the surface distortion and still maintain coherence.
For artists (as for so many others) the economy has been particularly challenging this past year. Art sales in New York City have been reported as being depressed by 80 percent. In still life, when a once pristine object shows signs of wear, use, or is broken, a comment is being made on the ways in which society produces objects, and how they are consumed. Painting the coke can in its mangled state represented for me in part, the stress and chaos of our current time.
A compelling example of a contemporary artist who works the imagery of broken glass is Todd Ford whose images can be seen here.
A compelling example of a contemporary artist who works the imagery of broken glass is Todd Ford whose images can be seen here.
Lollipops, 16" x12"
In "Lollipops," the liquid quality of the light and the candy appealed to me. The sticks are compositionally an excellent counterpoint to the swirls. The abstract geometry of the swirling colours evoke for me the non-representational paintings of the 60s, such as Bridget Riley. The distorted, melting feeling of the glass jar, and the watery reflection in the glass table top are meant to challenge the viewer's perceptions of solidity.
It seems to me that the flecks, scratches, and imperfections of the candy, jar and table all add to the slightly melancholy feeling of this painting.
There's something very Andy Warhol-ish about this that I really like!
ReplyDeleteKimmy
How cool that you chose a coke can - the contents of which are supposed to keep you fresh and peppy. You certainly captured the feeling of the recession for me.
ReplyDeleteI love this take on "modern" nostalgia. To me it turns the irony of Warhol back on itself as if to say, "no look, seriously."
ReplyDeleteWonderful freshness with the commercial, the crass, the innocent, the everyday, looked at through the lens of mortality a still life evokes.