This painting was a departure for a couple reasons. First, this is a bit more overtly political than some of the other works. Generally I think that art remains current longer if it taps into the psyche of a culture rather that relating to actual events. Yet art also needs to bear witness to injustice and general shitty behavior to those who have power. And let’s face it, there is a lot of shitty behavior from the shits in power these days. I have been doing a lot of quick gouache studies of police abuse lately, but this is the first time I pursued this subject with oil on canvas.
This work was inspired from a video I found online. While the nameless videographer was just recording the actions of the police, I noticed that composition was beautiful and eerie. So I screengrabbed it and started painting.
The other departure was more technical. I started the painting was a full canvas wash of yellow oche. This dimmed the natural radiance of the white canvas and gave the whole painting that dusky vibe that I was after.