"Rails, Bridge, Refinery" SOLD
oil on panel, 2009
8" x 10" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)
For a small painting I managed to squeeze a lot of info into it. Some call it detail, I prefer to call it clarity. It may be, but I'm not loading up the image with detail just for detail sake. It is a matter of articulating really. Clarity speaks differently than mere detail. Clarity is an Ansel Adams print, detail is, for me at least, description without much to say.
In this image all the crispness, clarity (or if you must... detail) is jammed into the upper left corner, the foreground is left, in relative terms, with much less. The edge treatment in the foreground slightly softer too.
The bridge is on a downward slope to meet the visible tracks around the corner, which break sharply to the right. All the 'first reading' lines converge and compress in the upper left corner taking your eye's first to the densely packed refinery then around the corner to the unseen merging of tracks which is supported by the 'secondary reading' lines of elongated shadows angling towards this merge.
The slightly tilted horizon also contributes to the rush toward the upper left corner as well as giving the image an edge of tension. 22
Click on image for larger view
Posts
Clarity is definitely the best word to describe this piece. The first time I saw this I thought it was a photo and couldn't take my eyes off it. I continue to be drawn back to this piece. Unbelievable and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with aa.mitchell, as I went back to view it after reading her post I too was struck by the clarity and thought it looked like a photograph
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