Painting

Contemporary Figurative Painting by Mississippi Delta artist Joe Moorman

My goal is to paint expressively from the part of the mind that speaks in dreams and symbols and associations.  I don’t mean that in a touchy-feely way, and I certainly want to produce art that works at the visual level.  What I mean is that I want the subconscious mind to have as much input as the analytical mind that is processing visual images for reproduction.

Pharaoh’s Catfish is a painting of a dream with some dry-brush work to layer colors.
Pink Elephant (Lonely Man at Sports Bar) has some ineffable quality that makes it special to me.
Whale Swallowing Jonah is a painting that captures the feeling of growing up as I did.
Father Time was partly inspired by turning forty.
Feeding Piranhas is some commentary on poor leadership.
Cleopatra’s Obelisk is a fauvist scene of Central Park, NYC.
Sinking Ship (Lost at Sea) is an experiment with spontaneous composition.
The Unicorn and Other Mythical Beasts was an experiment made before I began using gel and liquid media in an effective way.
The Flat-Earth Monkey Doubters has some comments about contemporary American propaganda and how corporations and fundamentalists are using each other to subvert democracy.
German Banana Police was very much a learning exercise, and more was learned about layering and media.
Mormon Crickets loosely illustrates a story from Mormon history.
Moroni with Green Parrot includes a picture of Runt Conroy’s parrot.
Book Burning is a picture of fascism and the true face of fundamentalism.
Rhinoceros Wine is a painting using spontaneous compostion to fish the subconscious.
Fossil Crusader is a portrait of recklessness and idiotic bravado.
Egret with Scroll is a picture of symbols.
Domino Dream is composition where figures emerge from one another in a flow.
Reading with the Egret is a painting of Memphis out of time as we know it.
The Writer and Shelby Foote is art created while thinking about artists and writers passing away from a world that needs them now more than ever.
The Egret Sings is an image of the artist working late into the night.
Father Time Light Bulb is a picture of cartoons watching animals wave goodbye to planet earth.
Halloween is a portrait of a real holiday which speaks to the soul.
The Rare and Fabulous Bird lives in Athens in her bird’s nest.
The Owl and the Pussycat is a dream story.
Purple Eve is a picture of Darlene’s zoo, in which I live.
Mother Child Read is an attempt at subtle and effective political art.
Singing Love Songs to My Arts is a picture of the artist and the art merging into one.
Sirens (Amphibians Feeding)” is a picture of amphibians feeding on worms.
Poet Dreaming of Home is a painting of the poet visiting home in his dreams.
Night at the Petroglyphs is a picture of sleeping rough near some petroglyphs out west.
Death and Taxes is a spontaneous composition on a textured canvas.
Hummingbird is a spontaneous composition that makes better use of space with larger pictures.
Jonah and the Whale is a composition derived from a waking dream.
Wasp is a textured canvas with some dry-brush work.