Oil on Wheel Covers
I started working with the wheel covers in 2008 when I had the desire to drastically change the format of my paintings. The idea of re-purposing a found object appealed to me, economically and environmentally, and I like the way the decorative quality of the metal becomes an ‘instant frame’.
These oil paintings are executed on archival, sanded and oil-primed stainless steel panels which are mounted on prepared vintage stainless steel/chrome wheel covers.
The “hybrid” images are based on Old Dutch botanical illustrations, which yields an interesting irony with the wheel cover format. The plants are altered and fictionalized. In the other object paintings, I have chosen imagery that works well when depicted life-sized and imagery which also relates to the metal, vintage, and retro-contemporary format.
A lot of the subject matter is a continuation from my earlier botanical paintings and my mixed-media work depicting ordinary mundane objects. The glazed and tinted treatment on some of the images creates a surreal type of light, similar to the light in my earlier landscape paintings. In all of my work I try to transform the imagery so that it is as much about the mood and the materials as it is about the subject.
Approximately 15 inches diameter.
