Author: Leonard Koscianski

The Green Valley, oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″, 2023.

The Green Valley is a medium size painting in oil on canvas. Finished in 2023, it is Surrealist in style. The idealized houses, roads, and trees are more symbolic than real. They create an image of a symbolic suburbia. The lines of this surreal landscape lead to the church in the distance. It’s position emphasizes the importance of religion in contemporary suburban culture, while its small size places it in perspective.

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The Man Cave II.  Oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″.

Not happy with the original painting, I brought it back into the studio and reworked it. I lightened it and added people in the windows.

The Man Cave, oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″, 2021. This is a medium size night scene, which was inspired by my brother’s suburban home and neighborhood. It is not an exact representation, it is an imaginative recreation; an attempt to capture the spirit of a place, rather than just it’s appearance. It is dreamlike, and surreal. A soft blue light pervades the dark scene. Light penetrates the darkness, and emanates from many sources; it pours from a garage, a window, a doorway. The people, though not interacting, belong to the place. They are a family, and this is their home, their world. All five of them. Five? Where are the other two? In the bedroom?

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The Sunday Painter.  Oil on canvas, 26″ x 42″.

The Sunday Painter, oil on canvas, 26″ x 42″. This medium size painting represents that moment when a storm rushes in, the sky turns dark, and day becomes almost like night. The foreground is illuminated while the distance is dark and covered with clouds. The clouds seem to slide over the land. People and birds are just beginning to notice and react. The Sunday painter is bathed in sunlight while just beyond, a car, in shadow, has already turned on its lights.

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Storming In.  Oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″.

Storming In is a medium size painting – 42″ x 26″, oil on canvas. In this surrealist composition a sailboat drives through the chop toward a rocky shore as billowy clouds move in. A strong wind creates waves, foam, and spray. Two distant sailboats race across the water. On the shore a church is surrounded by houses. A flock of birds flies in from the right. We see the people on the boat. Are they excited, or afraid? Do they wish they were safely ashore? When faced with the power of nature, our solid structures, such as boats, houses, or churches can seem puny by comparison. We may feel threatened. Time seems to stand still when a sudden storm darkens the sky. Yet seen from a distance, storm clouds are captivating, even beautiful.

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Cloud Illusions.  Oil on canvas, 28″ x 48″.

 

Cloud Illusions, 28″ x 48″, is a medium size oil painting on canvas. As the stormy clouds roll across the land, people run. Is a storm approaching? Is it a false alarm? Time will tell. The round clouds turn into wispy fingers that contrast with the geometry of the houses and streets they are about to cover.

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Stormy Days.  Oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″.

 

In this medium size oil painting the storm approaches and the cyclists head home. Is this threatening weather, or a false alarm? The cloud fingers reach out to surround the cyclists. The riders go one way, the birds another; both fleeing the coming rain and wind. The beauty of the cloud forms and their suggested motion belies their dark potential.

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Isolation.  Oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″.

Isolation, is a medium size painting in oil on canvas that expresses the isolation that can be experienced in a suburban neighborhood. The warm colors of the lighted interior contrast with the cool, dark, outdoors. A man, arms crossed, looks out. He is separated from others, whose presence is implied by the surrounding homes. His shadow suggests the anxiety of his self-imposed confinement. He is on one side of a glass barrier, while his shadow reaches out and away. Is he in a prison of his own making? The light and shadows unite the interior and exterior spaces.

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The Man Cave.  Oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″.

The Man Cave, oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″, 2021. This is a medium size night scene, which was inspired by my brother’s suburban home and neighborhood. It is not an exact representation, it is an imaginative recreation; an attempt to capture the spirit of a place, rather than just it’s appearance. It is dreamlike, and surreal. A soft blue light pervades the dark scene. Light penetrates the darkness, and emanates from many sources; it pours from a garage, a window, a doorway. The people, though not interacting, belong to the place. They are a family, and this is their home, their world. All five of them. Five? Where are the other two? In the bedroom?

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The Food of Love.  Oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″.

The Food of Love, 42″ x 26″, oil on canvas, is a medium size oil painting that silhouettes a dark foreground against a blue middle ground. The melancholy mood in front, contrasts with the buoyant mood beyond. The title comes from the first line of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”, a favorite comedy. The play didn’t inspire the painting, however, reading it at the time, it became part of my creative mental mix. There is a sprinkling of details that refer to the play. I count eight, but there could be more. We artists really don’t “know” what we’re doing. Our “intentions” don’t matter. In dancing, do we count the steps? When we’re learning we do, but at some point we let go, and simply flow with the music.

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Stormy Weather.  Oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″.

Stormy Weather, 2021, oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″. A medium size oil painting which depicts an approaching storm that seems to blanket a suburban neighborhood. There is a lone runner, and a flock of birds. Fleeing the storm? The shadows of the wild clouds seem to reach out like fingers for the tiny runner, and the solid family homes. The clouds are billowy and round, the houses are geometric. Storms for all their fury, bring needed water. Our homes can protect us, but they can imprison us, as well. Storms are dramatic and spectacular. Houses are mundane, and domestic. Both can give life, and threaten us, at the same time.

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