John Wood

Allegory of Desire

2015

"It's Springtime Somewhere In the World" is an abstract painting by Rebecca Sobin executed in oil, cold wax medium, and pastel powder, and rice paper on a cradled wood panel; measuri...

"Prana" is an abstract expressionist painting by Rebecca Sobin executed in oil, cold wax medium, and graphite on a cradled wood panel; measuring 36 x 36 inches. Titled "Prana" the ...

Beth Shields is a distinguished abstract artist whose work has captivated collectors and audiences worldwide. Based in Santa Cruz, California, Beth has dedicated her life to artistic...

Beth Shields is a distinguished abstract artist whose work has captivated collectors and audiences worldwide. Based in Santa Cruz, California, Beth has dedicated her life to artistic...

Beth Shields is a distinguished abstract artist whose work has captivated collectors and audiences worldwide. Based in Santa Cruz, California, Beth has dedicated her life to artistic...

"Swing" is an oil painting with chalk and graphite on wood panel, and measures 16" high by 12" wide. It is finished with a clear resin across the surface, lending the artwork a particular warmth and liquidity that is rare and lovely to behold. Typical of the artist, the painting is a mystery despite its apparent simplicity – a girl or young lady on a swing...

"Man Overboard" is an oil painting with chalk and graphite on wood panel, and measures 16" high by 12" wide. It is finished with a clear resin across the surface, lending the artwork a particular warmth and liquidity that is rare and lovely to behold. Typical of the artist, the painting is a mystery despite its apparent simplicity – a woman wearing part of her bikini stretches out beside a pool or body of water, while another figure hovers nearby. The title Man Overboard would suggest the woman's pose and partial nudity have completely derailed the man's intentions – perhaps driven him to distraction. Note the restrained color palette, the subtle toning of the wood surface, the bodies rendered and bodies suggested. The surface is very interesting – drawn lines and painterly brushstrokes to be sure, but also the toned wood coming through as color and texture. All of it held, as if in time, by the resin layer acting as a lens to both transmit this picture and admit light to the picture. A true artifact. From Will Hudson...

"Strange Angel" is an oil painting with chalk and graphite on wood panel, and measures 12" high by 12" wide. It is finished with a clear resin across the surface, lending the artwork a particular warmth and liquidity that is rare and lovely to behold. Typical of the artist, the painting is a mystery despite its apparent simplicity – possibly a winged creature or person in the presence of another person. Note the restrained color palette, the subtle toning of the wood surface, the bodies rendered and bodies suggested. The surface is very interesting – drawn lines and painterly brushstrokes to be sure, but also the toned wood coming through as color and texture. All of it held, as if in time, by the resin layer acting as a lens to both transmit this picture and admit light to the picture. A true artifact. From Will Hudson...

"Copse" is an oil painting with chalk and graphite on wood panel, and measures 16" high by 12" wide. It is finished with a clear resin across the surface, lending the artwork a particular warmth and liquidity that is rare and lovely to behold. Typical of the artist, the painting is a mystery despite its apparent simplicity – the landscape with trees on the horizon, the wide full sky bearing down with clouds and light. The picture surface is very interesting – drawn lines and painterly brushstrokes to be sure, but note the speed and swift conviction of those brushstrokes. All of it held, as if in time, by the resin layer acting as a lens to both transmit this picture and admit light to the picture. A true artifact. From Will Hudson...

"My work principally consists of deeply abstracted figure compositions--intuitive constructions that begin with random marks establishing larger masses of torsos, heads, and limbs in an undefined setting. The emphasis is almost purely on intuition. The figures are born of their surrounding environment, emerging only partially and fugitively from the layers of pigment. A narrative is evident but never overt. A crown, a shield, a boat, a wheel. Though the subject has recently coalesced around my reading of Dante and Shakespeare, the settings remain extremely vague- a beach, an interior, a woodland. The paintings are, in the end, meditations on the relationship between the protagonists in a wordless drama. In my paintings, I use a cold wax medium combined with dry pigments, oil paint, and embedded fragments of burlap. The surfaces eventually build up into a dense, rugged terrain." --Thaddeus Radell