08 March 2010

Urban Peeps




Here is my latest painting, without a title as of yet. It's a 24"x36", oil on board. I tackled new subject matter and worked within a new palette for the Black vs. White Show last month. (Those 4 paintings are a few posts down.) It really got me thinking about leaching the color out of the urban scenes I have been doing and reducing the environment to focus more on the human element. The background is played down to provide a sort of stage for the people to exist on. The viewpoint pushes the aesthetic, as we, the viewer, are watching on but not interacting. I'm not sure how the painting changes the characters but I definitely view them differently than paintings in recognizable places. Does it universalize them? Could be. Without color they are stripped down to their essentials, as forms moving in space.

What does it do for you? Leave a comment. I'd be curious to know how others view the painting. I'll respond to whomever does and maybe we can get a little dialog going, that we all can learn from.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Well, I'm not sure if the opinion of someone who was usually half-asleep in art class will be helpful to you (the prof was deadly boring), but I do like this work. I'm partial to B&W/desaturated images, however. I think it strips form down to its core yet somehow gives the subject its own vitality. In this scene, I see life & movement, but each seem like ghosts to one another. Which is often the case in a large city, isn't it? Just my thoughts @ 11:21 p.m. ~Lisa~

Anonymous said...

nice! this black and white makes you focus on the people which is what you want to do.