Monday, January 19, 2015

Cosmic Runner


I have done my characteristic geometric abstraction paintings for a long time, from early on in my artistic life. They were easy to design and work with. Just use your ruler and your French curve templates and maybe one full circle from a template, and you've got a pretty picture. Pick colors you like and there you go. This is also why I haven't put a large amount of effort into these things. Your smug "fine arts" critic will know right away that it took me 15 minutes to design it, and call it "facile," or even "cheap." But it gets the job done. 

This was a commission from a Catholic priest who was very important in my spiritual life when I was considering converting to Catholicism. He had taken up long-distance running, as had a lot of people in those days. Even I put on some running shoes and plodded over the sidewalks for a while. But this guy regarded his running as a form of atonement for sins the Church (but not him) had done. Even when he messed up his knees he kept on going because of the pain. I used the quote from St. Paul as a comment on his muscular Christianity. The black silhouette figure is the running priest. He never baptized me, that was left for another priest to do later on. The running priest died in 2004 and he lives in blessed memory.

"Cosmic Runner" is ink and watercolor with metallic paint on Fabriano watercolor paper, 10"x 8", spring 1978. Click for larger view.

1 comment:

Tristan Alexander said...

While the religious quote does not appeal to me, I really like the art! This is a variation on your geometric style that I have not seen before and thing works well!