Acrylic, handmade paper, ink on cradled birch panel (2023)
Size: w 16″ x h 12″ x d 1.5″
Part II of Triptych Into White (I, II, III: Destruction, Extinction, Disintegration)
Extinction
Extinction is the complete disappearance of a species from earth (National Geographic Society).
Extinction: A situation in which something no longer exists (Cambridge Dictionary).
Mixed media (acrylic, wood shavings, metal scrap, fence wire), 2023
Size: w 16″x h 12″ x h 1.5″ cradled birch panel
Part I of Triptych Into White (I, II, III: Destruction, Extinction, Disintegration)
Destruction
Rubble, ash, splintered wood, stone dust, pulverized concrete. What remains after the bombing of cities and catastrophe of earthquakes.
Acrylic, ink, pastel, Japanese paper on cradled birch panel (2023)
Size: w 24″ x h 12″ x d 1.5″
The red-crowned cranes of northeast Asia are known for their beautiful plumage and graceful courtship dances. Here, they are joined by young Nereids practising their ballet steps. The dragonfly, an audience of one, is barely visible at the top centre of the painting. I owe my inspiration for this work to photographers Tim Flach (“Red Crown Cranes Courting” from his Endangered series) and Sarah Waiswa (“Last Act” from her Ballet in Kibera project) — thank you to both.
Acrylic and pastel on cradled birch panel (2023)
Size: w 18″ x h 24″ x d 1.5″
Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, died 19 March 2018. His daughter and granddaughter, Najin and Fatu, are still living, but the subspecies is considered “functionally extinct” as it is no longer viable. I mourn the passing of this great creature with this painting and also the one posted in March (Leaving Eden) https://npaulartworks.com/2023/03/13/leaving-eden-nereids-and-the-northern-white-rhino/
Acrylic, ink, pastel, Japanese paper on cradled birch panel (2023)
Size: w 30″ x h 15″ x d 1.5″
This painting was inspired by the cloudscapes of Georgia O’Keeffe (especially Sky Above Clouds IV, 1965) and Kees van Dongen’s depiction of the ballerinas Anna Pavlova and Ida Rubinstein dancing Cléopâtre (1909). I see it hung paired with Nereids at Nightfall See Fire and Rain (my March 2022 post https://npaulartworks.com/2022/03/31/nereids-in-fire-and-rain/).
Acrylic, ink, Japanese paper on cradled birch panel (2023)
Size: w 12″ x h 12″ x d 1.5″
Acrylic, ink, pastel on cradled birch panel (2023)
Size: w 12″ x h 9″ x d 1.5″
Acrylic, ink, pastel on birch panel (2022)
Size: w 8″ x h 8″ x d 1.5″
Acrylic and graphite on paper mounted on cradled birch panel (2020)
Size: w 13″ x h 18″ x d 1.5″
Last night I was thinking about the poet Louise Bogan (subject of my PhD thesis a while back). She and her husband renovated an old farmhouse in New York state in 1929. She loved that house. A year and a half later they were driving home from visiting his mother and could see over the horizon that their house was burning. She lost all her manuscripts.
The painting above is about the sun setting. The poem below is about climate change — not about Bogan’s experience — but the image in my head of her house burning, seen through her eyes, was the spark for it.
Bereft
____
When I left, the world was green
There was birdsong
There was life.
____
Left/Nothing
____
I came home to find my house on fire
I was not gone long
I had not gone far.
____
I dream of scorched earth
Acrylic, graphite, gesso on cradled birch panel; triptych (2019)
Size: w 12″ x 16″ (x three panels)
This piece is meant to be viewed horizontally!
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