The Skater

The Skater. Leonard Koscianski, 42″x26″, oil on canvas, 2017.

The Skater is a medium size painting, in oils on canvas. The overall whiteness and blue of the colors is intended to create the sense of winter. The style is surreal. In the tradition of American Primitive Art, it is based on a childhood memory. Having grown up on a pond in suburban Cleveland, I enjoyed ice skating in the winter, especially skating at night under the moon. The space is curved, the viewer looks down at the foreground and straight out at the surrounding neighborhood. The house in the lower left is reminiscent of my childhood home.

It is Postmodern Art in that the style is a blend of Surrealist Art and American Primitive Art. This use of an eclectic blend of styles to create a contemporary statement is what makes it Postmodern Art. The lone skater gives the painting a sense of quiet and isolation, one of the most appealing elements of night skating on a backyard pond.

The texture of the snow is created by underpainting all of the snowy areas with textured, pure white paint. After the white paint is dry the colors are glazed over it. The background neighborhood is painted in very deep shades of blue, punctuated by bright yellow and gold windows. People are silhouetted in the illuminated windows, in a way reminiscent of Chicago artist, Roger Brown. They are kissing, arguing, reading, or just looking out. The houses are full of people on this cold night, and the pond is empty except for the lone skater.