Rising Above...

Comment

Comment by Taffie on August 7, 2011 at 8:05pm

Thank you so much for your kind review!  I, too, find I enjoy painting to achieve the look of a texture and  enjoy tactile things. I sometimes get frustrated when my pieces lean toward too "stylized", but I think my stronger pieces are also moreso stylized than not. And yes, with regard to Brian's Portrait, I have it lit so that it highlights the iridescence of the beetle and it really shines. Again, thanks so much!

Comment by Resident Curator on August 7, 2011 at 7:10pm

Curator’s Comment:

 

Rising Above the Rubble- Brian’s Portrait is an enticing picture- sensual in color and undulating naturalistic forms, but ever so slightly repugnant because of the insect subject matter.  The scale indicates this visual contrast would be even more heightened in the original because of the size of the beetle.  The brilliant blue of the subject is echoed in other areas, causing my eye to move throughout the organically rendered green and brown fauna.  I especially like the areas that seem to dissolve into the ground, and thin crackled lines in the truncated stems which move upwards and downward simultaneously, creating the suggestion of metamorphous or transition.  This piece and your others that seem to move furthest away from the original photographic source hold my attention the longest. You obviously have skill in rendering natural subjects, but your works which travel through texture creating multifaceted patterns- wet rocks, the South Rim, etc., rely less on reality and originate a fresh new life of their own