Finished the first painting of 2012 – another portrait: A Portrait – First Painting Completed in 2012

My first completed painting this year is a dark portrait with a nightmarish atmosphere. I have been working on this canvas on and off for years, and declared it completed several times, yet every time, soon after, I felt dissatisfaction about it and scolded myself for giving myself an easy pass.

Once more, motivated to correct my “wrong”, I took up the challenge to made this painting work.  I kept the overall theme of the desire to ascend and motif of ladder(s) and flaming tree.  I wanted to present a frustrated desire which was deeply spiritual.

The new element I introduced to this latest reincarnation is a dominant portrait, which was a relic of an icon painting, or the memory of mine of such work, pious, suffering yet otherworldly, and a bit self-pitying and oblivious to surroundings, perhaps a tad narcissistic.

Lastly, several boldly drawn lines dissected the face of this sufferer and I’ll leave that to my viewers to interpret them freely.

2011 Recapitulation – Oil Paintings by Matthew Felix Sun available on YouTube: http://youtu.be/qttTB3IwuUM

My Blog – Art ▪ 文化 ▪ Kunst(on Blogger) just had cumulative hits of 27,000.  Nice rounded number.

Free 2012 Calendar
You can download free 2012 calendars in PDF format: (510kb)
With Horizontal Format Images (12 pages)
With Vertical Format Images (12 pages)

or in One Page Formats: “In Distant Country” (jpg) or “White Dress with Birds” (jpg)

Recent Works

Pierce / Durchsehen / 犀利 – 2011

Dreamland / Traumland / 夢鄉 – 2011

Green Abstract 2011 / Grün abstrkat Malerei 2011 / 绿色抽象2011

Awards
-”The Song of Orpheus“, ” – Editor’s Choice Award, Artist Portfolio Magazine, Issue 2, published
by My Art Contests, 2011
-”Dispersion“, ArtSlant 1st 2011 Showcase Winner.
-”Grandma“, ArtSlant 2nd 2010 Showcase Winner.

Publications
- “Red Flowers“, “Flowers in Blue Vase“, “Flowers in Blue Vase, II“, “Winter Flowers“, “Gladioli“,
“Lotus“, and “Magnolia” – Sychronized Chaos Webzine, March 2010

Exhibitions
- “Lake” – “Scapes: Land, Sea and Urban” Juried Exhibition at Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, California, November 2011
- “White Dress” – 4th National Juried Show, Prince Streeet Gallery, Chelase, New York City, New York, July 2011
- Landsapce, Studio Trilogy, San Francisco, California, April – August 2011

Full Artist Statement and Curriculum Vitae in PDF format available for download.