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Countersign
Oil on Wood (48" X 36")
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The
title refers to an apparent reference to signs, and there is
a suggestion of roads, houses, road-side fences and trees. Imagery
is not boldly stated but suggested. The atmosphere is distinctly
spring-like as suggested by the use of soft green and gold coloration,
while the swirling forms suggest wind over a landscape. |
Painted
Lady
Oil on Wood (48" X 36")
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The “Painted
Lady" is a butterfly native to North America, and this painting
is based on a photograph by the artist of such an insect. The
shapes in the butterfly's wing were the start of a kind of free
fantasia of shapes that also suggest flight and the motion of
a butterfly over a garden. |
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Tondo
IV
Oil on Wood (41" diameter)
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A
tondo is a round painting and a compositional challenge. It was
often used by Renaissance artists and has a unique quality which
combines complete symmetry with a feeling of dynamic motion.
Here, the shapes suggest brick buildings, smoke, clouds and perhaps
a river running through it all. The dynamic quality of a city
is emphasized by the shape. |
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Tribute
to Ralph Meyer
Oil on Wood (38" X 24")
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Ralph
Meyer wrote "The Artists' Handbook,” which has been
of invaluable assistance to the artist as it contains many useful
formulas for paints, varnishes, grounds, etc. The explanations
and procedures of applying oil paint in glazes was of great value — this
technique allows for luminous, subtle color with many shades
of tone. Since the light reflects through the paint and then
bounces back off the ground, it has the depth and richness of
a stained glass window. The artist painted this picture as a
tribute to Ralph Meyer's expertise. |
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Prairie
Station
Oil on Wood (36" X 28")
Click
to Enlarge In
this recent painting (2002) the artist tried a new type of approach
to space. The picture was inspired by a railroad station (at
Beverly Shores, Indiana), and the forms in the lower half are
suggestive of beginnings and endings, as is appropriate for a
railway station. But the intention is not to create an illusion
of a particular place or image, but allusion to psychological
concepts symbolized by the forms and half-suggested images. As
the artist says, “Abstract works put the burden of meaning
more on the viewer. The painting has elements of a tableaux to
be interpreted and can say different things to different people.
This is one of the advantages of abstraction — the painting
is full of partial metaphors that are completed by the imagination
of the viewer.” |
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Artwork
Copyright © 2003 Tom Brand
Text Copyright © 2003 Robert Kamezcura
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