Skulls, Inc.
Why skulls?
I chose skulls as my main characters to create a metaphor; each one represents anyone of us. A central theme of this series of paintings is our journey though life. What is life about? What is reality?
Most of us believe that we are living normal lives, but there is something slightly troubling about each of us; if you look deeper there is a profound emptiness, something that is very hard to “put our fingers on”. There are many more questions than answers…
The playful, toy-like look, the decorative stylized pallet, the form transformations, the language of metaphors and symbols, are my artistic tools.
The simplicity of design, the laconic composition and fine quality, the small, more intimate size and the title of a single word for each painting; those are my requirements.
To convey the deeper meaning and seek the answers; those are my goals.
Just like a concept album where songs collectively hold a larger purpose or meaning, and at the same time each song is an individual complete piece, this series of paintings can be viewed collectively and individually.
Everything you see here is imaginatively conceived, purposely designed, professionally executed to capture the imagination of the viewer and to evoke the need to ask questions.
My Process
The photo realistic painting in oil requires a slow deliberate process with meticulous precision and attention to detail.
The works are crafted using traditional oil paints and hand-made brushes. They begin with luminous underlays of silver powder or 24k gold leaf, which are designed to shine though the translucent coats of paint to produce a radiant effect and add a vital iridescence to the paintings.
The images are created by adding numerous richly pigmented opaque layers of paint in combination with translucent pigment layers, and then very fine thin transparent glazes in variety of colors. This creates an incredibly sensitive gradation of colors, values and depth. This layering technic brings out a special kind of radiant quality where the colors a seemly appear to emanate from within.
A simple background color provides a stunning contrast to the rich colorful images, designed to draw the observer into the world of illusion, imagination and beyond.
The final result is in a surface that captures the moving light, only visible to the human eye (and cannot be reproduced digitally).
The paintings are similar in size and scale and takes two to six mount to complete.
Their content, variety of technics, materials and form, create a unique story.