From the Artist: My boss made a trip to Brazil to visit various local projects dealing with severe poverty and I found his discovery of a stunning heliconium amongst man-made distress particularly poignant. By painting just the growing tip of the flower on a very dark green abstract background, I was trying to get across a feeling that no matter how dark and scary the place you're in, there is always a seed of hope. Did I succeed?
From the Painting Guide: In this photo/scan the background looks black and reading that it's actually a very dark green did change the way I looked at the painting, I guess it's because of the connections I make with green and nature in contrast to black which to me brings associations of night and death.
When I looked at it initially (and I always do this before reading the artist's statement) my eyes focused on the sharp yellow point, thinking was it a finger, was it a bird; then moved to the yellow and red below that -- was it a medallion, a seed? Then I looked at the composition, the way the object hangs from the top of the painting and the large, dark space on the right. My thoughts were of intensity of life, because although I didn't recognize it as a flower it did seem organic, reaching out into the a dark world. Then I read in your statement that the background was green, and it reinforced the feeling I had of life reaching out.
Does the painting succeed? I don't believe you succeed only if someone interprets a painting in the way you intended. This painting works for me because I find the intense colors and shapes something I can keep looking at, and go back to, that it produces a calming feeling, rather a contradiction to the bright colors.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Composition: The composition of this painting is definitely worth taking note of. In theory it's unbalanced as the focus (or subject) is all on the left, but the weight and intensity of the large area of dark on the right balances it (use your hand to crop off some of it and you'll see how the dynamic of the painting changes).
From the Painting Guide: In this photo/scan the background looks black and reading that it's actually a very dark green did change the way I looked at the painting, I guess it's because of the connections I make with green and nature in contrast to black which to me brings associations of night and death.
When I looked at it initially (and I always do this before reading the artist's statement) my eyes focused on the sharp yellow point, thinking was it a finger, was it a bird; then moved to the yellow and red below that -- was it a medallion, a seed? Then I looked at the composition, the way the object hangs from the top of the painting and the large, dark space on the right. My thoughts were of intensity of life, because although I didn't recognize it as a flower it did seem organic, reaching out into the a dark world. Then I read in your statement that the background was green, and it reinforced the feeling I had of life reaching out.
Does the painting succeed? I don't believe you succeed only if someone interprets a painting in the way you intended. This painting works for me because I find the intense colors and shapes something I can keep looking at, and go back to, that it produces a calming feeling, rather a contradiction to the bright colors.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Composition: The composition of this painting is definitely worth taking note of. In theory it's unbalanced as the focus (or subject) is all on the left, but the weight and intensity of the large area of dark on the right balances it (use your hand to crop off some of it and you'll see how the dynamic of the painting changes).