Frontlines

The original Frontlines piece was conceived way back in 2012 as part of the teaser show for the original Merican-Tastic! show. (Link to the teaser show for Merican-Tastic! -You can see Frontlines in the 3rd and 6th images).  It has sat on a shelf in my studio untouched and unloved for years.  This past summer I cut out a portion of it and included it in my large mural Processionalization: Power Lunch With The Tasaday for my show Pop Culture Palimpsest.  Now what to do with the rest of the image....

How about this?

I am entertaining the notion of pairing Frontlines with one or more carved panels/canvases.

The relationship between the two panels might help generate ideas for what layers of imagery should be added to the canvas.

In fact, I think I have an idea for the 2nd layer of imagery, I just need to kind of flesh out the first layer.  No time like the present to dive in to the line work.

Although I do not think this first layer is complete, I'm sure that I am going to need to paint what is here to subdue how dominant the brick red and the green areas are before I can really make anything that resembles an informed decision on where to take the piece from here.  Right now those two colors just demand too much attention.  So let's dive in with some color...

A little easier to see what is going on compositionally, but I still need to add a few more colors.  Next time we check in with Frontlines, I should have enough areas roughed in with color to develop a sense of what the piece really needs to move forward.