Madonna 40oz painting by Chris Shaw

On April 25, 2010, in Art, Paintings, by Chris Shaw

Madonna 40oz (2010) painting by Chris Shaw

Madonna 40oz painting by Chris Shaw

Acrylic on Canvas, 2010

I designed this traditional Orthodox style Madonna Icon from the ground-up using geometry and specific geometric proportions.  It got a bit too complicated and serious for my tastes and I spent a while creating subsequent drawings that simplified and hid the underlaid geometry.

Madonna 40oz (2010) geometry

With all the lofty ideals present in the composition,  I thought I might dumb-down the image and portray the Madonna as if she was selling a 40 ounce bottle of malt liquor – perhaps on TV.  Madonnas are always selling something,  its just not malt liquor.  I had her pose with the bottle as if she were Billy Mays.  Where I live, 40oz bottles of malt liquor seem to be a mainstay at my local market – as is the lottery.  When I won $100 on a scratcher, I thought it wise to get the money in new, sequential bills,  and use them as the painting’s background.  The bills are laid out in a very specific manner.  This painting is a bit of an ode to my corner store.

Madonna 40oz (2010) detail

Share
Tagged with:
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.