Ok, just hang in there with me on this one. We need each other...trust me.
Here we have a creepy oil painting of a clown or mime in a very dark place....mentally, physically, spiritually, you name it. The Crow, anyone? Ugh, those colors. I'm not going to beat around the bush. So let's get to every level of morbidity on this one:
1. The painting was done on a Cameo Canvas Board. The majority of paintings done on this canvas board were from the 1950s. A few from the early 60s. This is important when you consider the next points.
2. The colors and their contrast: I know I already mentioned this but it requires repetition. The black background with potent yet staining white paint. The bloody tint everywhere, even in the black background. C'mon. It's the antithesis of what you were supposed to be doing in the 1950s. This one wasn't on grandparents wall next to the painting of the kittens.
3. The stains on his pants: "It's just normal wear and tear." Suuuuuure it is.
4. Killer clowns: See #3.
5. Outsider art and the human form: It looks like the artist never trained in painting the human form, and as a result, the product is disturbing and unsettling, but striking. This guy is sinewy and off kilter. It's so wrong it's absolutely dead on. If anyone wanted to see a primitive painting of a bald Iggy Pop as a mime, we're not far off. Sorry Iggy.
6. The ray of light: He's reaching out for something he'll never grasp. Yeesh.
7. The fading limbs: He's on his way out. Way, way out.
8. The face paint: You have blotches of very white paint, on top of a face of faded white paint. He probably has 100 layers of the face paint....I don't need it.
9. The red paint: Obviously the smeared red paint around the mouth doesn't garner much confidence in his current state. But there's another spot. At the bottom of his right leg, there is a dark red winged entity. You can see one wing tip in the ray of the light. Don't ask, cause I don't know.
10 through 12,763.....You need to fill in the rest of the levels. I'm spent. Just go back to the pictures.
Back to the logistics:
The piece is signed illegibly in the lower righthand corner. My guess is "B. Peeters" but I'm not sure. Right now it's a mystery. I believe the piece came out of an art estate in the Twin Cities area.
The painting measures 24" tall by 12" wide. The corners and edges are experiencing a few areas of loss. The top right and bottom right corner have slight bends near the edges. On the top right, there is a piece of tape along the bend. The canvas board has a slight overall inward bend to it. Please see all (disturbing) pics as they are part of the description.
I ship to the continental USA only. Free shipping on this one.
I know very little about this world. However, I do know that if this is displayed in your loft/home/gallery, your guests will want answers to their many questions. Do what I did. Move to a different room.
It didn't work.
Don't miss out.
