Post #764124 by BigToe on Sun, May 22, 2016 3:08 PM

Here are my last 2 humble offerings for our LOWDOWN LOWBROW THROWDOWN DOWN UNDA!

#11 of 12 is my Marquesan Theme:

"Visions of Gauguin", 16 X 20", Acyrlic on Canvas in a custom Bamboo Ben frame.

This was inspired by the acid-inpsired-looking tropical scenes of infamous scoundrel and post-impressionistic painter Paul Gauguin. The artist had started visiting French Polynesia in 1890 at the age of 42, then relocated there for good in 1995, having become disillusioned with the Paris art scene. His bold experimentation with color led directly to the Synthetist style of modern art (post-impressionistic style in which naturalistic form, the artists emotion towards the subject and an over arching primacy of the purity of the aestheic are combined), while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the influence of the cloisonnist style (see Ken Ruzic), paved the way to Primitivism (borrowing from native art traditions, a hallmark of Polynesian Pop), and the return to the pastoral (an idealisation of a life closer to nature). Gauguin spent the last years of his life in the marquesan islands, looking for a paradise lost.

In my painting, I have tried to convey the light i remember from my trips to the islands of French Polynesia, a place Gauguin had become disillusioned with, but to me felt like an unspoiled paradise. The volcanic mountains rise like vivid green spires, insanely bright against the impossibly blue sky. I have included Me'ae, a traditional Marquesan temple, a wooden tiki of a type that may have been placed at the Me'ae, and a beautiful Vahine, with traditional Marquesan tattoos.

And my last theme kids!!!!

"Such Is Life", my 'Famous Aussie' theme.
16 X 20" Acrylic on Canvas in a refinished vintage wood frame.

Inspired by the epic tale of the outlaw Ned Kelly.

(Paraphrased from wikipedia.com):
Edward "Ned" Kelly, born 1854, was an Australian bushranger of Irish descent. His family were a poor selector family who saw themselves as downtrodden by the Squattocracy and as victims of police persecution. Arrested in 1870, Kelly was convicted of stealing horses and imprisoned for three years. He fled to the bush in 1878 after being indicted for the attempted murder of a police officer at the Kelly family's home. After he, his brother Dan, and two associates fatally shot three policemen, the Government of Victoria proclaimed them outlaws.

During the remainder of "The Kelly Outbreak", Kelly and his associates committed armed bank robberies, and fatally shot a police informant. When Kelly's attempt to derail and ambush a police train failed, he and his gang, dressed in homemade suits of metal armour, engaged in a final violent confrontation with the Victoria Police at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. All were killed except Kelly, who was severely wounded by police fire and captured. Despite significant support for his reprieve, Kelly was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out at the Old Melbourne Gaol. His final words are famously reported to have been "such is life".

There is a site dedicated to him if you would like to learn more: http://www.ironoutlaw.com/

[ Edited by: BigToe 2016-05-22 16:26 ]