Nathan Eugene Carson

Purple Daisies - contemporary raw portrait painting, abstract found materials

2021

"#159 – SLEEP" is from Amy Williams' series "A Farewell to Arms" – wherein the artist works directly onto page 159 of a found copy of Ernest Hemingway's WWII romance novel. The artis...

"#51 – WE THINK" is from Amy Williams' series "A Farewell to Arms" – wherein the artist works directly onto page 51 of a found copy of Ernest Hemingway's ...

"#186 – WOUNDED WERE COMING" is from Amy Williams' series A Farewell to Arms – wherein the artist works directly onto pages of a found copy of Ernest Hemingway's WWII romance novel. The artist selects certain words and phrases from page 186 to isolate as a poem, and then draws, inks, redacts and paints the rest of the page according to the text. The resulting poem reads "The wounded were coming / men that were scared / I felt the rain in my face / It was getting dark." – Hemingway's novel is a doomed romance between a wounded American soldier and an Italian nurse – note the feminine form on the page, with a "dress" or apron that looks skeletal, bloody and rained upon, all at once. From Amy Williams – "My recent work is focused on making treated book pages using a found vintage...

"#227 – I WAS AFRAID" is from Amy Williams' series A Farewell to Arms – wherein the artist works directly onto pages of a found copy of Ernest Hemingway's WWII romance novel. The art...

"#224 – ABANDONED, SEPARATED" is from Amy Williams' series A Farewell to Arms – wherein the artist works directly onto page 224 of a found copy of Ernest ...

"#71 – THEN IT'S HOPELESS?" is from Amy Williams' series A Farewell to Arms – wherein the artist is working directly onto page 71 of a found copy of Ernest Hemingway's WWII romance novel. The artist selects certain words and phrases from the page to isolate as a poem, and then draws, inks, redacts and paints the rest of the page according to the text of the poem. Here the poem reads: "Then it's hopeless? / But sometimes I cannot hope. / I cannot." Note the poem is outlined in dark red and purple radiating lines, while outside there are lighter violet, blue and white lines. From Amy Williams – "My recent work is focused on making treated book pages using a found vintage...