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.

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.