Friday, August 24, 2012

Between Acts


Oil on canvas, 70" x 77"
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Click image to enlarge

I am finally installing my mural in the Eastern Oregon University Welcome Center. With luck, installation will be completed today. A photo update will follow soon.

Meanwhile, a collector expressed interest in this very large piece from 2006, one of my "Night Mall" paintings. Since it has never been displayed publicly, the canvas has spent most of its time rolled up in my storage area. Now it's hanging on the wall where the mural has been all summer.

In a sense, this painting is about absence--a spotlight illuminating a blank wall and empty walkway. It made me think of a theater where the performer has left, or is yet to appear. I was fascinated by the way the light seemed to take on substance and form, I also loved the humor of the coin-op pony seeming to gallop off, "stage left". Mall architecture is quite theatrical, something that becomes apparent especially at night, after hours. The buildings are essentially stage sets, requiring people and cars to complete the "scene".

6 comments:

SamArtDog said...

I'm very jealous of your collector. Will you please show us the other Night Mall pieces?
Congrats on hanging the mural! Can't wait to see the pics.

Madison Moore said...

What a great concept! Love it.

Don Gray said...

Thanks a lot, Sam. I'll post some of the other night paintings from time to time.

Don Gray said...

Hi Madison--thanks!

Sheila Vaughan said...

I meant to comment on this earlier Don. I too love this Night Mall painting and like Sam would love to see the others eventually. It has an almost spooky de Chirico feel to it and I am taken by this whole idea of "stage sets" because so much of the time anyway us humans are acting a role and creating stage sets for ourselves.

Don Gray said...

I'm glad to hear your thoughts around this piece, Sheila. I had similar thoughts while painting it. All the night mall paintings are theatrical in some way. I'll post some more of them soon.