Brawn and Beauty

The idea for this new body of work began with plans for doing figurative paintings of dancers and boxers. The similarities in the subjects are intriguing: highly developed bodies, demanding physical performance and exertion, human expression, and aspiration. At the same time, contrasts are apparent. The beauty, grace, and flow of dancers - the brawn, violent potential and pent up energy of boxers - make for a fascinating juxtaposition.

The medium of oil painting on oxidized copper is my own eccentricity, a merging of my traditional figurative painting on canvas and my explorative work in patinization of copper. The marriage of these two extremely different practices is a strange and wonderful exercise that has its own built in contrasts. The areas of pure copper have a glowing beauty. The primordial textures due to oxidation of the metal and the bravura brushwork have a brawn all their own. All together, these things provide tension and balance.

And so the characteristics of the materials lend themselves to the subjects, and vice versa, in these paintings on copper.

—Richard Hawk

Works on Copper

The paintings on copper in this exhibition explore the use of copper sheeting as substrate. Viewers often describe a visceral response to this work, possibly because copper is an integral part of the human body. As one of the most basic building blocks of our universe, it is listed as Element 29 on the Periodic Chart.

The use of this unique ‘copper as canvas’ provides some challenges and opportunities. A variety of acidic solutions have been used to create accelerated oxidation of the copper. The controlled oxidation creates darkening of the copper surface as well as blue, green and warm-colored areas. Varnishes were used as isolation layers.

Artists' oil paints have been employed in the traditional way to bring the images to life in these most unusual works. The copper sheets are mounted to either heavyweight canvas on wooden stretchers or hardboard panels on stretchers to preserve and protect them.

Please join us if you can for the reception on September 10, 2011.