Amiens Nave Painting

Wash painting on paper of the interior of Amiens Cathedral, France. Sometimes I work from photos of architecture with surface embellishments. In the photos, the architecture, or “ground”, becomes an element which can influence or distort the applied decorative “figure” when recorded by the camera. But it is also the photographer’s choices of format, angle, lighting, and choice of film that can influence or distort the architecture in the resulting photo. From this I paint, as objectively (abstractly) and dutifully as possible, the photo’s content, without trying to understand or distinguish which is object, pattern, light, or shade, but recording the confluence or juxtaposition as it is observed. The compositional photo of “Amiens Nave” was filled with a variety of light sources, some in high contrast, some in low contrast. All lines and features converge at an intersection and confusion of both structural and decorative linear elements. The task was to not distinguish between structure, pattern, light, or shade, not to necessarily understand which feature was being addressed, but to assemble the values and colors like cells, or like a jig-saw puzzle in which the edges are not cleanly cut. The use of wash was ideal for this. The lack of true lines seemed in keeping with the knowledge that, whether relying on the vision and perspective of human observation, unbiased mechanical record, or both, that light and dark can distort what we think we know to be true, be it fundamental or superficial.

Painting:Acrylic on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:22 W x 30 H x 0.1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.