Paintings > 2016

Brian Mouhlas Grandmas Balloons Dinner Table Party Birthday Figure Figurative Expressionism Magic Realism Oil Painting Cuyahoga County Parma Strongsville Ohio Cleveland Art Contemporary Art Contemporary Painting HEDGE Art Gallery 2016
Last Meal
Oil on birch panel
42 x 53.9 in.
2016

This painting speaks of growing old and the inevitable end that we all one day must face. Many times, objects in my work hold significant meaning and the manipulation or erasing of certain information creates a certain type of required examination that I look to achieve. What struck me as the most potent jumping off point in this painting was the mysterious arrangement of balloons positioned behind each figure as if they were in some way attached to them. I played off this and joined the balloons to the figures as a kind of life meter, or metaphor of time remaining. Both the figure in the middle and on the right, have balloons still fully attached and full size. While the figure on the left side, has a balloon that is withering away and has detached and seems to float off into the distance. Somewhat like the figures physical presence that seems to disintegrate and return to the atmosphere.