Art today is Coke, McDonald’s, Death and Taxes.
I’d been painting this one far too long, but just the right amount of time. This is the commemorative edition of the Billboard Painting Urban Landscape. 1974-2024. Gen X wildling. Raised by wolves. Scraped knees. Coke, McDonald’s, Death and Taxes. Our collective modernist guarantee. This is the get back on track painting. The autobiographical secret messages. Though not as surface level as a painting of three sisters on the family farm.
Art Studio Process
I wanted parts of this painting to have a printed appearance, like a worn out last run of a poster. I’m not particularly precious about realism, but find myself balancing between a smudge and a fine line to give the impression of detail. Sometimes it hits. Sometimes not. I’m moving on to the new pieces. This painting has been varnished and ready to get out of my studio. Frankly, I can’t handle much more ‘stored’ art. Out there somewhere is an art collector of living artists. Occasionally we find each other and discover that there is a connection between someones deep rooted personal history, and my own. My own truths and lies and secrets and confusions embedded in blobs of paint on a wood surface.
This painting has some of the only true advertising I’ve retained from my reference photos. I can’t recall another that had some corporate message intact. I know I’ve had a few with local businesses. Hotels, auto shops, restaurants. But nothing as direct as this. Even so, my initial intent was to keep the adverts, but decided the old “climb up and paint it over” approach just won’t shake. This painting has some not so subtle autobiographical shout outs. They’re hard to miss. This will wind up being one of those “I dare you to buy this instead of the Ikea art print you’ve been eyeing for your parlour”.
This painting is featured on the Saatchi Art Collection ‘New This Week’ for November 18th 2024 – and the Saatchi Art Collection – Best of November 2024.
If you follow me on instagram @hryhorczuk you may have seen some of my process posts. Or you can see them on youTube.
