Heretofore

Description

This large oil painting on canvas, called Heretofore, is part of a series of works called Time Lines that was done from 2019-2021. The figure in this piece was inspired by stylized female figures from European Neolithic art and culture, thousands of years ago. For more about the images used in this series, click on the link to my June 2020 blog.

Some of the works in this series, such as Heretofore, were a visual exploration of images of women in pre-history. In my May 2020 blog, I compare the role of women in Neolithic and contemporary eras, especially with regard to religion. In paintings like Heretofore, I have imagined, in a visual sense and as much as  is possible, how artists in pre-historic cultures viewed themselves, their world and their art. In some of my blogs I have compared their world-view with contemporary ideas about progress in art and the Avant Garde. For example, please visit my April 2020 blog.

Works such as Heretofore are also experiments with form; using techniques that draw attention to the process and materials used in creating them and are not part of the realist tradition. I seek to negotiate a middle path between aesthetic appeal and sterile abstraction; between the grip of the past and newness for its own sake. So while my current work has a conceptual motivation, I also want to communicate the joy of colours, lines and forms depicted in oil paint – to communicate at a visceral rather than an intellectual level.

No frame is needed for Heretofore & it is ready to hang.