Art of Carnival

I consider myself a realist painter painting contemporary images in a post expressionist world of art. I prefer painting large for the freedom and excitement it creates. I do not frame my paints because they are self-contained within their edges. I prefer gallery wraps or thicker stretchers to encompass my work. I mostly paint figurative and usually feature the West Indian Carnival and scenes which has greater worldwide acceptance. Carnival is a joyful and exceptional celebration or fete which is multicultural deriving from the exclusion of the indentured and the enslaved. It is an atypical subject matter unusual to most venues casting me into a new genre. I work in oil and sometimes use acrylics in my backgrounds. My solid color backgrounds are intended on bringing the viewer into the celebration of the fete of Carnival. I feel it’s important to crop tighter and not be traditional about my composition. Excluded parts of the anatomy or item provides the viewer to also create in their mind the continuity of the painting expanding the viewer’s imagination at the edges causing involuntary participation by the viewer. Carnival is about the celebration and the abandonment of rules which also work in this regard. I’m also challenged by the human anatomy and the natural world. I must sculpt; in a two-dimensional plane, the illusion of depth using light and color as my chisel applied by my brush. I also sculpt 3 dimensional which enhance my understanding of forms.