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"Cock and Hen"
27 x 17 ¼"
Acrylic on Board, 2009
Stephen with Rhode Island Red Hen
$6,800
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One of the worst mistakes an animal painter can make is to come up with a concept for a painting before having an experience with the animal subject. Most of the time, I go out in nature or to a park or zoo to photograph animals without any preconceived notion of what I want the animal to do. I let the subject decide what it will give me, observe it carefully, commune with it sensitively, and somehow I know how best to portray it. When the idea comes first, you have to find an animal willing to cooperate, and that’s never a good scenario. In the case of "Cock and Hen" I was initially inspired by the totemic hen sculptures of Peter Woytuk. I became fascinated with his conflation of chicken and egg into an iconic symbol at once humorous and elegant and in many cases more than a little bit phallic. I began musing about ways to explore a similar idea in a representationally realistic context. "Cock and Hen" is the decidedly surreal result. My favorite bartender, Stephen, posed for the figure, and my neighbor down the block provided the chicken. Unfortunately, I had some very specific demands on this poor bird, and the result was several grueling hours tormenting the hen until I had some halfway decent references of her in something close to the right pose. At the end of the day, I’m simply grateful the painting finally took shape.
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