"Big Art, Small Canvas" Group Show

I will be featured in a new group show at RJD Fine Arts Gallery this month - Big Art, Small Canvas - which will include some of my smaller works (see one of them on card above, third from top). Be sure to check it out if you are in the area!

Big Art, Small Canvas

Opening Reception
September 25, 2010
6:00 -8:00 pm

Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery
90 Main Street
Sag Harbor, NY 11963
631-725-1161
rjdgallery.com

"Tea"

36" x 48"
acrylic on canvas



In some ways, Tea parallels The Visitors in terms of concept and composition. A picnic on the verge of going awry, it involves an attitude of both panic and indifference; when we become unconscious of what we are actually doing because we are so caught up in our heads. The world, however, stops for no one as the goats and other animals reveal, continuing to go about their tasks, driven by their basic needs in their uncomplicated ways.

For me, the two figures represent a collective consciousness and contrasting emotions. The figure on the left is that little voice that keeps us in check when we lose ourselves. She's aware of what's going on unlike the other, who is transfixed in a world unbeknownst to us, her overflowing cup of tea indicative of several things. Humans are an excessive lot, draining precious resources from a world that still manages to sustain us, and a part of this painting speaks to that. The neutral sky and hazy landscape gives this painting an air of ambiguity, which further serves the purpose of this picture, as I wanted its essence to be one of dark playfulness tinged with uncertainty.

"Queen Anne's Lace"

30" x 24"
acrylic on canvas



The concept for this painting started out as a simple pun on words before shifting to something a little deeper; a view from a more feminine perspective, my love for expansive, earthy landscapes, fields in particular, and a childhood favorite of a wildflower that I used to pick. When I was a child, relatives of mine had a home with a wide field running behind it, and everytime I went over there, the only thing I wanted to do was run down that hill that was blanketed in daisies and Queen Anne's Lace. It's a flower that is both so complex yet so simple at the same time; the way I myself sometimes feel. Funny how ordinary memories often find their way into the paintings in one form or another, even without me knowing sometimes, and they play a large role in this one. Those were the days; the field was my empire, the buzzing insects my court, and the flowers my crown!