PATRICK WHITEHURST AND HIS ART

Isn’t this great? It is a real treat, that this week Patrick White comes to my blog with his exquisite paintings. Patrick’s art embraces life, with all of its joy, and its pain too. He’s a communicator; his art is sometimes precarious, I can feel myself falling. At other times Patrick lifts me up, so high that I feel dizzy. Here is what Patrick has to say about his art, and following that, you can see his paintings.

“I paint both in acrylic and in oils. Lately I have focused more on acrylics due to the quickness of the media, but intend to return to oils soon! What I find fascinating in the art I enjoy is seeing an image that tells a story. Raised on comic books, I appreciate art that explodes and smacks you in the face, but also paintings that make you feel like your seeing something dark and fantastic, something no one has seen before, or quite like how you see it. To me, that is the best kind of art. I appreciate landscape painters for their talent and for the beauty in the images, but I love the art that can not be seen in the real world. The art steeped in the soul of the artist, in passion and sorrow, intrigues me.
I mostly work on canvas, but have worked on paper and even card board and wood. Mostly I prefer the traditional canvas style. More recently I have decided to attempt a blend of my doodles with traditional painting. This has resulted in my Boris series, among other paintings. Boris has appeared in eleven paintings of mine to date. He can also be found on the blog boris paintings.blogspot.com With Boris I have strived to create a character that appeals to those with a darker sense of the world, those who have embraced depression rather than hide its existence. The paintings come with letters written by Boris as an accessory to the art.
I've also begun a series of four paintings that bridge the erotic writing of PM White with my paintings and will be producing sensual paintings with erotic words painted onto the canvas.”

Patrick Whitehurst can be found on Facebook. Visit the PM White website

COFFEE POT WOMAN

The woman reclines, she’s oblivious to the viewer. She’s not on display; she is comfortable with her nudity. But is she only comfortable because she thinks that she is alone? The viewer is a voyeur and if the viewer is titillated by the image, he/she deserves to be discomforted. We are intruding on a private moment. The woman’s left hand is between her thighs. Is she fondling herself? Masturbating? We do not know.

LIZARDY


It’s a precious moment; sharing a moment in time with a wild creature. The image frozen. It is a privilege. Like a photo, but nothing like a photo. It is a peaceful image; the lizard is wild, but not feral. We have nothing to fear from this creature; we can only admire his exquisite beauty.

PRODUCERS THINK


This painting is surreal, it is like a fragment from a dream. Already the dream is fading, as dreams always do. We struggle to remember. Yes, there was woodland in the dream. We shudder as we recall the ominous shadow. The feeling of something creeping up behind you. Something, perhaps awful is about to happen. THINK the Graffiti tells us. We try, but the thought eludes us.

SITTING AND BLAMING

An alarming old man. Resentment is etched in the lines on his face but despair too. What is he holding up -- painted in soft blue and pale yellow? A memory? Is that why he grinds his teeth? Sharp edges, a wooden chair. Do we know him? Do we want to? He is very old. What tales he could tell us? Would we then understand his despair?

TEXTING CLOUDS

Once I had a dream, that there were images in the sky. It was like looking up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Only I could see them. I was telling everyone to look. They looked, but they didn’t see. So I feel a connection with this painting. A lone figure is intent on his cell phone. He doesn’t see the images in the sky. The shapes of the clouds. Is it a comment on life in the 21st century. I don’t know.

DARK AND LAUGHABLE

This is a hideous clown. The stuff of nightmares. He is scary. Is the artist showing us that sometimes we are right to be scared of humour. Do we take ourselves too seriously? But why is the face gruesome? Perhaps the clown could tell us stories too. Stories that would sound familiar; stories that repel and depress.

READER OF BOOKS

She is taking time to relax, it is another moment in time. Maybe she is trying to hard to relax. Her feet are bare, but she is all sharp angles. While she reads, there are several books discarded. Is the woman as chilled as she would like us to think.


And my readings, my thoughts on Patrick’s paintings are not definitive. There is no right answer. No wrong answer either.

There’s a lot of nonsense talked about art; a lot of waffle. You don’t have to have a deep knowledge of art history to understand something on an emotional level and really, for me, it does come down to an emotional response. Do I like it? Why? Why is it so moving? Why is it so pleasing to my eye? Do I hate it? Why does it darken my mood? Why does it discomfort me? And there’s another thing, just because a piece of art gives me the chills, it doesn’t mean I don’t like it. We can all shout out “This is beautiful!” Or “This is rubbish!” The important question to ask is: “Why?” And sometimes the answer is quite simply; “I don’t know.”