Original artwork description:

“Peon” is an acrylic and encaustic painting with text on canvas 101cmsH x 91cmsW x 0.75cmsD. The painting is part of a second series of ‘Jazz’ works. Like others in the series it takes inspiration from music and in this case the sources are an instrumental piece of the same name by Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet and poetic lyrics from Don Van Vliet called “Steal Softly Through Snow”.
“The black paper between a mirror breaks my heart, The moon frayed thru dark velvet lightly apart. Steal softly thru sunshine, Steal softly thru snow, The wild goose flies from winter Breaks my heart that I can’t go. Energy flys thru a field, ‘n the sun softly melts a nothing wheel, Steal softly thru sunshine, Steal softly thru snow.
The black paper between a mirror breaks my heart that I can’t go, The swan their feathers don’t grow, They’re spun. They live two hundred years of love. They’re one. Breaks my heart to see them cross the sun.
Grain grows rainbows up straw hill Breaks my heart to see the highway cross the hill. Man lived a million years ‘n still he kills. The black paper between a mirror Breaks my heart that I can’t go.
Steal softly thru sunshine, Steal softly thru snow.”
Don Van Vliet is an artist and accomplished musician I’ve always admired who pushed boundaries visually and audibly. Much of my work is inspired by music and the written word. I take inspiration from music which has an ‘open’ structure. Music that finds its own way through improvisation. I try use the parallel structures of such music when making paintings. There is no preconceived notion of how an image finds its way. There is no prescription. Whatever happens is built on experience, thought and memories. My interpretation of this music is about ‘care’ ‘compassion’ and ‘understanding’. When you create art work from just an idea, you’re always engaged in decisions that are driven by emotional response and considered application. I like to play with that balance.
A ‘peon’ is a word used to describe a person who does work that does not need any particular skill, often one who is not paid well or treated well. An outsider. Outsider art is art made by self-taught, supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. Art that ignores convention and manner. I admire that.
I continue to be inspired by modernist, abstract expressionists such as John Hoyland, Howard Hodgkin, Elizabeth Frankenthaler , Gillian Ayres and Don Van Vliet.
The painting is shipped in a robust custom made cardboard crate (same as those used to transport large screens). The painting is bubble wrapped to protect the canvas. Further wrapping is made with corrugated card. A wooden frame is placed inside the cardboard crate to preserve the structural strength of the packaging. Each painting is insured to its sale value. Shipping costs within the U.K. take into consideration weight and insurance. U.K. shipping costs for this artwork are £90.

Materials used:

Acrylic and encaustic on canvas

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