Beautiful?

"Refinery at Dusk"

oil on panel, 2008

6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

Another industrial subject I like... refineries... very complicated to paint, but fascinating to study. Although made from simple forms they are incredibly complex in their construction, a seemingly endless configuration of pipes, tanks, towers, catwalks, poles, lights... miles of steel, aluminum, asphalt and concrete.

So... are they beautiful? Is the beauty in the subject or the way an artist handles the subject?

I think it's both. Beauty is a lot of things that go far beyond the usual... nature subjects... which I also love... but how boring if we all did the same thing all the time. It really all depends on how wide your definition of beauty is.The subject is not always inherently beautiful itself, sometimes it is the way it's handled by the painter, photographer, draughtsman, cinematographer, printmaker etc. That could mean the way it's lit, colored, cropped, composed, the idea it is representing... the list goes on and on. The next time you pass one try looking at it from a new point of view.19

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