The Sphinx

Here's a drawing from 1992 that hasn't been seen much:

The Sphinx, 1992, brush & ink on paper, 25" x 20" approx. It doesn't really have a sphinx in it, but the title suggested itself.

Sphinx

I've always wanted to visit the Great Sphinx in Egypt...maybe one day.


Sphinx, 2010, brush & ink on paper, 11" x 8.5".

The Origin of the Sphinx

Here's a little painting I did fairly recently that I hadn't posted here:


The Origin of the Sphinx, 2009, acrylic on board, 8" x 10".

I've always been intrigued by the Sphinx, though I've never been to Giza, or even Egypt (yet). I downloaded a screensaver from National Geographic a while ago, which cycles through various photos of archaeological sites, & the Sphinx & pyramids are one of the images, so I see the image very often. Also, I recently read about a new book that suggests the Sphinx wasn't always a pharaoh-headed lion creature, and also possibly explains the water erosion that have made some people think that it is much older than previously thought. However, aside from all of that, here is my interpretation.

Sphinx

New drawing of the Sphinx.


Sphinx, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18".

Maybe one day I'll go to Egypt & see the real thing...

Ruined City with Sphinx

Ruined City with Sphinx, 2009, acrylic on board, 16" x 12".

I've always liked paintings of ruins, & this came out of a dream I had recently where I had a massive studio in an unnamed city (might have been Brooklyn, but it was a dream anyways), and in among the industrial buildings were stone colossi...not sure where that was coming from (paging Dr. Freud...)

So, this is a continuation of my "surrealist" (heavy quotes) painting method where I fill in the background/sky area first with blended colors. This is partly supposed to make things easier & quicker (Marcel Duchamp didn't like to paint in backgrounds either), but I found myself pretty much repainting everything. I guess I'm a control freak or something...I like the way the sky looks like waves, btw, a nice inversion...