Crowd Painting

Crowd is a circular piece. I found a local source of circular panels and felt challenged to make some work with them. While not unheard of, the circle is an unusual form, and my challenge was how to make this shape work. How, mechanically, could it be hung? I answered the second question first, by gluing strips of wood to the back of the panel. The picture is taken from my imagination, applying and removing paint until I had something that appealed to my eye. The materials I used to make the image were oil on casein and board (MDF). The work is protected with a dammar varnish. Why casein, and what is it? I was at the time working in collaboration with a food scientist whose PhD research was in milk proteins, especially casein. We discussed the possibility of using milk to make art. Casein is the main protein found in milk. It is sensitive to pH levels, solidifying in acids and liquefying in alkalis. The process for extracting it can be time consuming; a mild acid (vinegar or lemon juice) is used to separate the milk into curds (soft cheese) and whey. Discarding the liquid whey, the solid curd is dried. To liquefy the dried curd, a very small quantity of alkali is added slowly and carefully. Once liquid, the casein may be ground into pigment. Casein has also been used as a glue and as a binder for a very long time; the ancient Egyptians used it for both purposes. In more recent years it has been used to glue the wings of aeroplanes (notably, the de Havilland Mosquito) and, as a paint, by Andy Warhol.