Ben Strawn: Botticelli's Niece

I stole the title of my painting "Botticell's Niece" from Bob Dylan's song "When I paint my masterpiece." The painting is one of a group of paintings I made in 2023-24 after having spent the previous year off on a tangent doing paintings in a more representational style. I was composing works based on screen shots taken from Youtube videos documenting fentanyl addicted people on the streets of Philadenphia. After spending a lot of time and energy working in this more restrictive mode, I felt I needed to return to the more expansive abstract image process that has been my inclination." Botticell's Niece" started with the figurative screenshots as reference material but moved away from the representational. I began ,as I commonly do, drawing with charcoal on the canvas as I prepare the surface with gesso. Then I proceed with acrylic paint developing the lines,shapes and color.The painting is released of overt figurative referencing and becomes an exploration of abstracted forms, color and movement. The sub-surface subconscious energetic signature of human bodies serves as the scaffold for the realization of the abstract image. The sister painting to this piece, "Mermaid Wishing" was shown at Walker fine art in 2024- show title "Nomadic Dreams"