Picnic

Artist James Chatelain (American, born 1947)

Date1989

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions25 1/4 × 26 in. (64.1 × 66 cm)

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineGift of James Pearson Duffy, 2008

Object numberUAC3577

DescriptionWrapped in a thickly painted layer, this colorful still life offers a basket of playfully sinister shapes as "picnic" fare. Chatelain's paintings often reflect a dark humor as this picutre attests. This almost surrealist vision confounds the notion of the academic still life genre. An acrid yellow, a bottle-fly green and Uranium orange would not seem to appeal to the palate, but do wet the visual appetite.

A disciplined artist, even after a long day at his manufacuring job (now retired), Jim Chatelain would spend each evening in his cramped attic studio making art. This is the passion and enduring grace of such an artist who finds that the artistic act nourishes his life.

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