Southwest Surrealism
An imaginative and strange take on the desert landscape.
"Dancing Dogs”
Oil on stretched canvas, 18”x 24” (2024)
This oil painting is a special one to me. Not only was it featured in the Yavapai Gallery’s “Southwest Surrealism/Surreal Southwest” exhibit in Prescott, AZ last summer, but this piece is also a love letter to two of the greatest ‘good boys’ a man could ever know: Ringo and Hank. I’m so happy I was able immortalize them in this painting, and even happier to have had the pleasure of being their Dog Dad. I really wanted to capture the motion of two dogs playing in the middle of an unnamed desert valley, surrounded by a veritable forrest of prickly pears and dusty plains. This piece is framed and will hang forever in my living room.
"Nomad”
Oil on stretched canvas, 16”x 20” (2024)
This surrealistic oil painting is a self-portrait of sorts, and was originally submitted to the “Southwest Surrealism/Surreal Southwest” exhibit in Prescott. I still believe this would have been a great edition, as there is no argument to it’s mysterious and uncanny nature. Somewhere, in some undisclosed desert location, I have become a disembodied, giant head, floating aimlessly (and sleepily) with determination. My head wears a crown of prickly pears, which has religious undertones as well as a metaphorical declaration that I always have cacti on the brain.
"Dos Saguaros Revisited”
Oil on stretched canvas, 24”x 36” (2024)
I was debating on whether this painting belonged in my “Desert Flora” section or here, with the other surrealistic pieces. There is something askew, and even cartoony about this desert scene, and it features (in the distance behind a crop of prickly pears) an adobe-style building with two mighty saguaros looming over it. This painting is an artistic nod to one of my very first oil paintings, “Dos Saguaros.” This is the largest painting hanging in my studio at the moment, and it was a lot of fun to create.
"Desert Dog, Walking With Shadow”
Oil on stretched canvas, 11”x 14” (2024)
Around a year or so ago, I became curious not only about using palette knifes, but experimenting with some limited palettes. The popular and intriguing Zorn Palette uses only two colors, with a black and a white. I painted many pieces using the Vermillion Red and Yellow Ochre, and eventually added a Prussian Blue, so the pieces wouldn’t all look so stark. This is one of my most simple compositions, and I really wanted to play with more minimalistic approach, focusing on movement, texture, light, and shadow.
"Espejismo”
Oil on stretched canvas, 16”x 20” (2024)
This was my first “surreal” piece, specifically painted to enter the “Southwest Surrealism/Surreal Southwest” exhibit a the Yavapai Gallery in Prescott, AZ. I had painted this group of prickly pears before, and wanted to add something unexpected, like a fish. I think the fish was done really well, and I do enjoy this oil painting, despite some glaring issues, in my opinion. I also find the skyline to be interesting, with the Cobalt Blue fading into a yellow dusk.
"Pale Moon Desert”
Oil on stretched canvas, 12”x 16” (2022)
This dark and detailed painting boasts many firsts for me as an artist. I had never painted a nighttime scene before this, and to be honest, wasn’t very sure how to pull it off, especially being a fairly new painter at the time. I didn’t intend for this piece to be “surreal” in any sense, but theres something amiss and chilling about the way the pale moon hovers over this silent hill of desert flora. It evokes a tension, and feelings of being stuck in time, and in fear.
"Arrival”
Oil on stretched canvas, 18”x 24” (2024)
Arguably my most contentious oil painting to date, and not because of any controversy, sensitive topic, or political discord. Simply, no one understood what was going on in this scene. I had intended this piece to be my first surreal submission, but in retrospect, it’s a bit more absurdism than surreal. What’s not to get about an alien clone of Mr. Belvedere landing his UFO on some desert planet, looking menacingly under a green sky? Although, in earnest, I’m still proud of many aspects of this painting. It was one of my first compositions based solely on my own imagination, and the way the striped ground leads the viewer to the foreground (with the Belvedere clone) really makes this a successful, illustrative story.