Krazy Kat

24"x24" oil on canvas ••• As you may know, I do not always talk about the paintings displayed in these emails. This painting is a bit different for me and so a bit hard not to talk about (i.e., you will just have to suffer with the following tome). • Here is the backstory: I will be having a solo show at a new Laemmle Theatre and I thought it appropriate to possibly have "movie/film" related pieces for the show. Outside of a few old home movie projectors and movie cameras collecting dust in my crash site of a studio, I didn't have much in the way of subject matter that fit the bill. • At first I thought some old movie house posters would be good subject matter. But a little research revealed the vintage posters were either too poorly designed or too well designed/illustrated. Painting something that is poorly designed would be torture and painting a poster that is already very well designed is just too weird: At that level of illustration, the poster is already a piece of art and I am not touching it. ••• Then, quite by chance, I stumbled upon this little box for a Krazy Kat movie. This is the type of movie you purchased to view on your hand crank 16mm projector in the comfort of your home. I had to take a shot at painting it. I mean, c'mon, a cat tipping his hat, smoking a cigar AND about to get brained by a brick thrown by a mouse! Who could resist that? • I am not sure why, unlike any other painting I have done, I decided to paint this edge to edge on the canvas. I still do not know why and I still do not know if I like it. That means the odds of me doing it again are pretty slim, but you never know. • So, I present to you an oddball painting of mine starring Krazy Kat and Ignatz (the brick hurling mouse).

Posted August 23, 2018