“Sidewalk of Earthly Delights” New for Street Stories Exhibit
“’Sidewalk of Earthly Delights”
oil on canvas
18″ x 24″
New for the Street Stories exhibit at BrassWorks Gallery. Contact the gallery or DM me for more info.
’Sidewalk of Earthly Delights’ is an homage to Bosch’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’. Like Bosch’s painting, my aim was a chaotic mix of absurdity. Painted during the Covid-19 pandemic, the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin seemed an appropriate metaphor to use in my painting. The street scene depicted shows a community in the midst of a plague of rat-flies – which as anyone who lives in the city knows can be difficult to control. Like we are experiencing in real life, the reactions of the neighbors range from horror to benign indifference. They appear skeptical of the savior, in the form of a piper, while he leads the rat-flies away. The supporting cast consists of the type of strange and wonderful creatures that dwell in the city. There are always surprises when walking down a busy street, and I included that in my painting. From the wealthy to the poor, the exhibitionists to the dog walkers, not everything can be easily explained, and must just be accepted.
