Tappan Zee Bridge and Sunset Blue and Pink

Tappan Zee Bridge, 6" x 12", oil on panel

Sunset Blue, Pink, Black, 6" x 12", oil on panel

Soap bubbles are floating over the Tappan Zee Bridge! Not exactly. It's fanciful but I'm not really depicting soap bubbles, just pieces of paint that feel like bouncing, drifting air.

There are few things more fanciful than the BMW art cars, a collection of various models painted (on) by famous artists. Alexander Calder was the first, others include Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, and Jeff Koons, to name a few. The cars were fresh out of the factory when the artists went to work. I really like them, especially the BMW 525i decorated by South African painter Esther Mahlangu. BMW called it "the first African Art Car". It is tradition in Mahlangu's community in northeastern South Africa for women to learn ancestral designs at puberty and then paint murals on their homes. Her car is a combination of this history and European consumer culture, epitomizing globalization. I would love to live in a house painted like that about as much as someone might covet her painted BMW.

The National Museum of African Art exhibited her work. The museum is part of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. I didn't know it exists or maybe I forgot. All these years of art school, reading about art, talking with other artists, and going to museums and it's not on my radar. Maybe it's stored somewhere in the back of my brain, but it's a little disconcerting it doesn't get much attention. I believe African art is under appreciated in the U.S. just as Africa doesn't seem to be on the forefront of the country's political landscape.

"My mother and grandmother taught me to paint when I was ten years old. When I am painting my heart is very wide, it reaches out. It makes me feel very, very happy." - Esther Mahlangu

Sunset Blue, Pink, Black retains dimension while also pressing against the picture plane. The blue and pink push against each other as they form one sky; the black trees keep their place. The landscape boldly stretches just as it draws you in. My heart is wide when I paint, too.