It's no secret that I love realism in painting and greatly admire the work of Andrew Wyeth. However, I find it can also be a trap that artists occasionally fall into (including me). In some ways, painting in a Realistic style relegates to artist into becoming a human "Xerox" machine. This piece was to designed to "repress" my Wyethian tendencies, and strive for something original and my own statement. I first painted a portrait of Andrew in oils, and then deconstructed it by slicing it into 5 ribbons which I integrated into the "picture towers" shown in my about this piece (see link for blog below). The act of physically cutting the painting up was my way of severing my past artistic tendencies. Moreover... there is a sense of discovery as you approach this piece because many of the details can't be seen until you are right on top of it. The viewer suddenly sees very small magnifying glasses between each "arc", and under each glass is a letter of Wyeth's name.

The piece is constructed out of African Mahogany, Aluminum, Jeweler's Loupes (magnifying glasses), oil painting on Masonite, and ash wood painted with a Di-Chromatic automotive Polyurethane. This Di-Chromatic paint is extremely interesting as it changes depending on how you view it in the light.

Unfortunately, Andrew died 3 days before its completion. I sure wish I could have shared it with him.

The color ranges from a saturated metallic green, to a very deep blue. The piece is relatively large measuring 3'2" wide X 5' tall.

I hope you enjoy!