^{after Rhoufi’s Waiting for Miracles}

Medium: Oil on stretched, acid-free, cotton canvas
Dimensions: original: 18 × 14 in.;
digitized: 4174 × 3187 px @300 dpi

This work was painted during the SoJie 12 workshop, and translates Rhoufi’s gorgeous black and white photograph, “Waiting for Miracles”.

Waiting for Miracles
by Rhoufi

In Rhoufi’s photograph, it seemed to me, that the man was looking through the classifieds for a job. I thought, he’s doing this in a public place, yet is all alone, harrowed, frustrated, concerned. They say the best place to hide is in public.

With those thoughts, I immediately conceived my take on this: partial b&w, partial color, semi-abstract work, to explore the two worlds in which the man lives –

1. the normal world of family and friends, where he wears his “game face”; and,
2. in this shadowy world of loss and despair over present circumstances.

When I approached Rhoufi with the concept, he encouraged me to go for it.

This was a challenge as my approach to painting is very unlike my detailed approach to digital. I knew immediately that I would abstract the details and even the grand perspective of Rhoufi’s original.

By exaggerating color, perspective, and light; it was my hope to allow the difference in colorful versus somber tones to attract viewers into a story, which may be read in a variety of ways.

My heartfelt thanks to Rhoufi for allowing me the honor to interpret his perfect photograph (with compelling perspective), as a colorful abstract where perspective is more of an internal viewpoint than lines on canvas.

Features

2011-09-16 Abstract Surreal Digital Art