Lmst

TRUST (2016)
Acrylic - 12” x 16”

The masonite board I had been using became a painting that fits a theme begun with LEAP OF FAITH and runs through WINGING IT and other paintings. 1/3

#leftoversandpalettegremlins #personalvisions #fadedstar

A low angle, slightly tilted perspective of a jagged break in a huge wall where a figure leaps from a plank into open air. Boards randomly bridge the gap, touching the other side in places. The facade is built from mismatched segments of material colored gray, brown, and red. Tattered cloth is draped across in places for visual interest. A line of doves flutters from the lower left pointing toward the figure. In their path is a blue five-pointed star painted concrete.

LUMEN 5.1 (1999) 
Acrylic on Canvas - 30" x 20"

  The shape of the opening admitting the glare of light is somewhat like a diagram of an eye, with the circle held by the figure representing the iris. The further one goes outward the greater one can see inward.  

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/lumen-51/

#fineart #personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fadedstar #lumen

A low angled view follows the curve of concrete wall up a cavernous toroidal space. The structure at the upper edge of the curve drops off, opening the tunnel to blue sky. The contrast against pale concrete evokes the appearance of the human eye. At the lower center of the opening, a figure in a cloak holds a metal ring, which simultaneously looks like an iris while echoing the artist's sigil (the letters M and W combined inside a circle). Rebar set in concrete forms a ladder up the curving slope, further defined by its rust stained trail. Next to the ladder, a weathered five-pointed star is painted in yellow on the irregularly paneled concrete wall.

Detail from LUMEN 5.1 featuring a man holding a large metal ring as he stands in the eye-shaped opening of an upward curving tunnel.

Close detail from LUMEN 5.1 featuring curving textured wall. Rusty rebar forms a ladder up the curving slope. On the right, the paint of a yellow star chips and weathers. On the left a metal grate weeps lines of rust down the concrete.

LEAP OF FAITH (2002)
Acrylic on Panel - 11” x 10”

The smallest of the Faded Star series, it is a visual reflection of the unease and excitement I felt at jumping forth into the [for me] new world of so-called fine art painting.

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/leap-of-faith

#personalvisions #fineart #imaginativerealism #fadedstar

A low angle, slightly tilted perspective looking up an immense chamber. The walls of segmented concrete are dilapidated and filthy. As light shines down into the cavernous space, a solitary figure leaps off his makeshift perch into open air with arms spread wide. Below, a flock of doves stirs with the commotion, fluttering up through the chamber.

Background detail from LEAP OF FAITH featuring fading details of bricked over doorways. In the upper left, the artist sigil, the stylized letters M and W combined in a circle, are tacked on paper that also contains the date 97.

Figure detail from LEAP OF FAITH featuring a man dressed in tattered white jumping off the stub of a concrete ledge into the open air with arms spread. Into the cavernous space, light angles down, hitting the wall like a spotlight in a patch with a rounded top edge. A line of doves flirts with the edge of light.

SUBTERRANEANS (1992)
Acrylic on Canvas - 44” x 33”

Companion piece to CLIMBER and THE RED STEP, this painting is firmly set within my Faded Star series.

My original conception of the image didn’t seem right somehow, and I had been wondering how I could improve on it. 1/4

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

In a worm's eye view up a massive stepped wall, a solitary figure crouches on the bottom tier looking up, awed by a view of concrete climbing as far as he can see. The facade shows intricate patterns, like many derelict building merged together. A trapezoid of filtered light stretches along the side wall hinting at a way out somewhere off panel. The muted tones, just gray and rust with a slight hint of blue, combine with dusty quality to give the painting an oppressive atmosphere.

ORBIS SCIENTIARUM (1997)
Acrylic on Panel - 24” x 36”

It is frequently assumed that if we try hard enough, there are no limits to our understanding of the universe. 1/4

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

Tiny figures, each carrying a light, walk a path cut into the face of an enormous textured stone facade. The path angles down before opening to a round circuit where people seem to be defying gravity as they walk the curve even upside down. The channel in the stone resembles the number 9 lying face up. A hole at the center of the loop exposes the sky outside. A figure points his light up toward it but there is no apparent path to get there. On the upper edge of the panel, a weathered five-pointed star is painted on the stone in white.

CHASM (2000)
Acrylic on Panel - 30" x 20"

I keep a sketchpad next to the bed for recording ideas which arrive as I am falling asleep or waking up... prime time for my "muse channel." 1/2

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

A woman with tentative footing stands in a tetrahedral crevice cut into the face of an enormous stone wall. With no good handhold, she extends to glance out at a track of rust stains in the textured concrete. Well out of arm's reach, the vertical lines run parallel, marked with empty pairs of holes and the occasion—often broken—rung made of bent rebar. A similar pattern, evidence of a ladder that used to run up the wall, extends down from where she stands, but from her vantage she doesn't see it. She wears a white shawl-like shift trimmed in blue that hangs to knee length on the front and down to her heels in the back. Cut in a triangular pattern, it is an obvious inversion of the nook she inhabits.

PENDULUM (1999)
Acrylic on Panel - 11" x 9"

At times the light of knowledge seems to only illuminate the negative side of our existence and becomes a burden to the spirit. He is considering letting it go—"ignorance is bliss"—as he makes his difficult journey towards the light of the sky far, far above.

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/leap-of-faith/

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

A man stands on an outcrop of rebar in the space between two massive stone walls. In one hand he struggles with a lamp hanging on a long heavy chain while his other grips a rusted piece of metal anchored to the stone facade. Up high and barely visible is a thin line of hazy daylight that he can't see because he's looking down.

Detail from PENDULUM featuring a man standing on a narrow outcrop of rebar. A lantern dangles low on a chain as he grabs another outcrop of rebar to steady himself as the lantern swings like a pendulum.

Figure detail from PENDULUM featuring a man precariously balanced on metal jutting from the side of a stone wall as he looks down. Light illuminates him along his left side as he reaches out and up to steady himself on a shorter length of rebar protruding from the wall. A chain wraps his other arm extended. The length of chain falls taut with the weight of a lantern hanging low like a pendulum.

TERMINUS 2 (2013)
Oil on Canvas - 48" X 36"

After doing a similar painting that had figures in it, I wanted to do a version without humans in the picture, so this is it. 1/2

#fineart #imaginativerealism #fadedstar

Shadows fall across a weathered barricade buttressed by two-by-fours. A razor thin crescent moon hangs in the sky above. A band of orange descends with sunset over rust-colored painted peeling to reveal gray beneath. Set right of center is a sign, red text on white, that reads “EXIT ONLY”.

CLIMBER (1992)
Acrylic on Canvas - 42” X 31”

On the day I finished this, I brought the painting to the frame shop to show it to Audrey. She was busy with a client, so I left the painting on a table and went to get some lunch. 1/2

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

Light falls soft across a concrete wall made of tall rectangular panels forming an illuminated patch in the shape of a long trapezoid. The concrete panels vary in texture to express differing degrees of weathering of the stone. Switchbacks cut left to right and back again to form a large S-shape that climbs the enormous structural wall.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS (2014)
Acrylic on Panel - 12" x 24"

With this painting I revisit themes developed in my "Passage" series, featured heavily in my first couple of one-man shows at the Tree’s Place gallery. 1/3

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #passage #fadedstar

Two transparent spheres, each containing a single white flame, float through an arcing concrete passage. The curved walls are structured in rough rectangular panels. Strips of rusted metal trim run parallel to a path of dirt cut into the stone floor and lead around a bend and out to open air. On the wall closest (lower right panel) is a weathered 5-pointed star painted in yellow.

EMPIRE OF DREAMS (2005)
Acrylic on Gessoboard - 28" x 22"

A world of concrete works in disarray, thrown about by some unknown cataclysm. 1/3

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

Seated high atop a slender concrete support, a woman sits hugging her knees. The hem of her white dress spills down from her perch. As seen through the tilted wreckage of stone slabs, her face is bathed in light. As she faces a sun unseen, long shadows fall behind her, cast by the rebar protruding from the nearest facade. The surface is chipped, pitted and worn through to expose the rusted skeleton beneath once smoothly constructed stone. In the immediate foreground, a key hangs looped over a short outcrop of rebar.

SILVER TIDE (2006)
Acrylic on Canvas - 60" x 36"

Painted as I was 55 turning 56 and pondering the intransigence of time. 1/2

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

View from an observation deck looking out on a turbulent sea of tall frosted waves that look almost like a range of mountains. The walls, floor and ceiling are all made of concrete. There are blue and yellow painted markings on the floor to the right and a rusted drain to the left. Set on a pillar partially blocking the view is a shiny clock with a black face and gold trim. The hour hand is not quite at 6 while the minute hand is between 55 and 56.

SUBTERRANEANS (1992)
Acrylic on Canvas - 44" x 33"

Companion piece to CLIMBER and THE RED STEP, this painting is firmly set within my Faded Star series. My original conception of the image didn’t seem right somehow, and I had been wondering how I could improve on it. 1/4

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

LE CHEMIN ALLUMÉE (2008)
Acrylic - 36" X 36"

"The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent...
1/5

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fadedstar #fineart

A series of switchbacks lead up a weathered concrete edifice. Walls of rough textured stone are rusted in places and worn throughout the cavernous space. Canvas and rope are strung at random. The walls begin to erode several levels up, offering a glimpse of starry blue sky. Dim yellow lights hang sparsely along the walls. In minute detail, a figure can be seen laboring up the first long ramp. He carries a staff with a light at its curling end.

CHASM (2000)
Acrylic on Panel - 30" x 20"

I keep a sketchpad next to the bed for recording ideas which arrive as I am falling asleep or waking up... prime time for my "muse channel."

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/chasm/

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

Detail from CHASM featuring a woman standing in a tetrahedral crevice cut into the face of an enormous stone facade. The sun cuts across the wall bathing her in light. There isn't room to comfortably stand, and she tentatively peers out.

Close detail from CHASM featuring a woman in white robes with blue trim. The hem is high enough to see her legs, with her feet placed uncertainly as she peers out of the shallow tetrahedral crevice cut into the stone facade.

ORBIS SCIENTIARUM (1997)
Acrylic on Panel - 24" x 36"

It is frequently assumed that if we try hard enough, there are no limits to our understanding of the universe. 1/4

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

IN A WORLD OF HER OWN (2016)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 48"

This painting arose from musing on an interview that Stanley Kubrick gave in 1968, a source of inspiration I have gone back to over the years, revisiting comments made by the director. 1/3

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

Against the paneled concrete wall of a massive chamber, a stone sphere hovers as if by magic. The outer surface is polished and patterned with overlapping 5-pointed stars. Light from a simple bulb hanging inside fills the sphere with warm light. At the edge of a circular opening, a little girl in pink dress sits reading with her feet and the blanket beneath her dangling unsupported. The metal frames that structure the concrete wall have thoroughly rusted. Much of the stone is dingy and cracked. Eroding at the top of the chamber, the wall gives way to a view of a sliver of crescent moon in the blue night sky.

Some time after cancer surgery, I experienced compelling waking dreams. I didn't know what they were about, but I felt I had to paint them.

EBB and FLOOD (2000) were done on faith-it didn't matter if anyone—even myself—understood what they were about, they had to be made real. 1/3

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

Four weathered pillars of concrete stand at ocean's edge. The sky is a hazy fog that blurs at the horizon above a deep blue sea. Approaching the foreground, sea green water becomes glassy reflecting the sun as the receding tide slowly rolls out depositing a meandering line of detritus on the wet sand.

LIGHT BEHIND THE STAR (2001)
Oil on Canvas - 24" x 24"

For me, the faded star is a symbol of despair and disenchantment, but in our children we find the possibilities of a brighter future, a light beyond the negatives of day to day existence.

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/light-behind-star/

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

#fadedstar

Client Info