Disasters by Lynne McDaniel and History by Philip Vaughn

 Disasters by Lynne McDaniel

     

     Lynne McDaniel has focused on the depleting stability of our world.  She has created scenes based off of real events of destruction caused by either man or nature using charcoal and oil paint on a paper canvas.  She has a stunning use of color to highlight the problem areas in otherwise calm landscape scenes.  They are all black and white until a bright red draws your eyes to the points of interest.  She mentions in her artist statement that the black and white is supposed to be reminiscent of black and white photography, so for me the red color breaks out into the real world away from the perfect photograph just like the destructions have done with showing what the real world can actually be like instead of a perfect deluded image that some people may paint for themselves.  Pictures and artist statement below.  Continue after pictures for 'History' by Philip Vaughn.

History by Philip Vaughn

     I find the title of Philip's work to be quite suiting as I find the scenes depicted to be very reminiscent of what one might find in a history textbook.  His scenes were inspired by events in history the hit very close to home for the artist, having grown up in Normandy, France post WWII.  He also found his inspiration in text books.  To me the black and white charcoal and watercolor represent the bleakness that war might bring to the mentalities of some.  The blurriness might represent an unclear vision of the future that war can create.  Many of these pieces are done from a birds eye view perspective which may be indicative of his only having to observe the aftermath of the war instead of actually having to be there and experience it.  Pictures and artist statement featured below.