From my social media in bold and italics:
[ I made the original acrylic painting freestyle over two days. Tube piping the paint in heavy impasto. The style is a continuance of my exploring the very essence of Picasso.
The artwork questions racism with the use of colour, occupation, history and emotion to challenge prejudice and hatred.
I produced eight digital versions in addition to the acrylic artwork which features in the centre. Originally the real neck ties were secured top and bottom to flatten the canvas board temporarily whilst the heavy paint work is still drying.
To my delight I immediately realised I had inadvertently made installation art from my painting with powerful meaning!
Six digital versions are background colours GREEN, MAGENTA, RED (shown here), ORANGE, UMBER and CYAN. A 3×2 Collage (the eighth version) is produced in the colour order listed here. The seventh MONOCHROME version is included in this blog article.
The title is purely a reference to the copper paint piped to make some of the facial features. The outer area of the face refers to rays of the sun. The artwork canvas began as a beautifully sophisticated abstract in yellow and green.
After evaluation I decided to freestyle the portrait you see here. ]
For reference into a physical mounting of the piece the RED is #fe0000 / rgba 254,0,0,255.
Next we have the beautiful six grid Collage:
As an Andy Warhol fan my 3×2 Collage provides the opportunity to enjoy colour to its fullest.
“Copper Sunshine Face” is a cultural look at historical society particularly from America, where music converged through classical, jazz, blues, soul, country, rockabilly, rock n’roll, pop, disco, hip-hop, rap and electronic music.
– “Matt, what is your inspiration behind Copper Sunshine Face?”
- ‘Purity of human being where racial origin has no division. This is why I chose to paint the face yellow, to signify the Sun. The headdress style is 1950’s America following my love of listening to The Collins Kids especially “Shortnin’ Bread Rock” . As described already, the choice of adding ties to the piece is unintended subconcious chance.’
– “The ties are now integral to the piece then?”
- ‘I like the idea the funeral tie is part of Copper Sunshine Face since this has personal meaning. However I’d like the buyer to add their own personal item as the uppermost headdress for the duration of ownership. Continuing in this manner for any future resale of the piece in keeping with its original purpose.‘
– “Sounds cool! Why then did you make MONOCHROME if the face is yellow for the Sun?”
- ‘To me the pieces are founded upon singing in the harvest fields. I felt the subject material needed to appreciate history, hardship and equality for all.‘
Links courtesy of Wikipedia and Heppest of the Hep YouTube channel. Music publishing owned by any existing label copyrights.
Here is MONOCHROME:
“Copper Sunshine Face – MONOCHROME” reminds me of old black and white movies.
Whilst making the original acrylic painting I thought I’d picked out burnt umber, having bought same in both gouache and acrylic earlier. Halfway through I realised as the wet metallic paint gleamed I’d chosen copper instead. The tones do look similar on the tube packaging. This is the reason I included a BURNT UMBER version in the 3×2 Collage.
The textural detailing of the yellow face is made by softly wiping kitchen tissue paper on “Copper Sunshine Face”.
I wish the artworks to represent progress and oneness for the human race.
Hope you enjoy.
