C-II
Artist:
Don Eddy
(American, born 1944)
Date: 1980
Place made:United States
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions:
30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Nancy Hoffman
Object number: 82.56
Copyright: © Don Eddy
Label Text
"Such is the burden of my work, to celebrate the mystery of being."
- Don Eddy
Eddy has at times been identified with a group of artists known as Photorealists, yet he has little interest in replicating the appearance of a photograph. Although Eddy bases each work on a black-and-white photograph, the paintings are in color, each painted with an airbrush according to a unique three-color system. The artist begins by applying a layer of tiny circles all over the entire surface of a canvas in the color pthalocyanine green. He then adds a second layer in burnt sienna, and follows this with a third and final layer painted in dioxazine purple. The layered circles combine to yield saturated colors marked by rich reflections of light.
Essentially, Eddy is a philosopher, whose paintings bring attention to the metaphysical connections among objects. Seeking to paint images that have personal meaning, he relied on memory and free association as he chose the objects for this painting during a ten-minute visit to a five-and-dime. In selecting the toys in a quick and spontaneous fashion, Eddy believed that he would be drawn to objects that were important to him when he was a child. He then placed them in a cabinet with glass shelves and mirrored walls and photographed the collection from different views. In the final painting, objects and their reflections merge together to create a spatial ambiguity. By blurring the distinctions between tangible objects and ephemeral reflections, Eddy raises questions about truth in perception. For example, is an object any more real than its reflection? By giving them the same degree of precise rendering in the painting, Eddy implies, in fact, that they are equally valid realities.
(David Rubin, 2008)
- Don Eddy
Eddy has at times been identified with a group of artists known as Photorealists, yet he has little interest in replicating the appearance of a photograph. Although Eddy bases each work on a black-and-white photograph, the paintings are in color, each painted with an airbrush according to a unique three-color system. The artist begins by applying a layer of tiny circles all over the entire surface of a canvas in the color pthalocyanine green. He then adds a second layer in burnt sienna, and follows this with a third and final layer painted in dioxazine purple. The layered circles combine to yield saturated colors marked by rich reflections of light.
Essentially, Eddy is a philosopher, whose paintings bring attention to the metaphysical connections among objects. Seeking to paint images that have personal meaning, he relied on memory and free association as he chose the objects for this painting during a ten-minute visit to a five-and-dime. In selecting the toys in a quick and spontaneous fashion, Eddy believed that he would be drawn to objects that were important to him when he was a child. He then placed them in a cabinet with glass shelves and mirrored walls and photographed the collection from different views. In the final painting, objects and their reflections merge together to create a spatial ambiguity. By blurring the distinctions between tangible objects and ephemeral reflections, Eddy raises questions about truth in perception. For example, is an object any more real than its reflection? By giving them the same degree of precise rendering in the painting, Eddy implies, in fact, that they are equally valid realities.
(David Rubin, 2008)
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
