MICHAEL WHELAN

GENTLENESS (1997) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Canvas - 11” x 13”

Not a classical Virtue, but based on observing my young son with our aging family cat. It’s how I hope we’ll care for all the earth’s creatures.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

EQUANIMITY (2000) by Michael Whelan

Oil on Panel - 12” x 9”

As with so many others, this is a virtue I feel a lack of in my own life. The figure is meditating that equanimity is found in the contemplation of the fullness of time. Against the truely immense span of time, ephemeral material gains are but trifles to be discarded and not worth the thought.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

KAIROS (2007) by Michael Whelan

I didn’t want to just call this PRUDENCE 3, so I looked all over for a word that captured the idea of the painting and KAIROS is the only one that fit. The ancient Greeks had 2 words for ‘time:’ 'chronos’ referring to chronological or sequential time and 'kairos’ meaning a more undetermined period in which something special happens.  

The leaf comes from a Gingko, an ancient tree which has survived from prehistoric times. I often use Ammonite fossils as symbols of extinction, or a gentle reminder of the vast span of time, and sometimes a memento mori on a global scale. The woman in my picture is choosing to contemplate survival, so I guess you could label this painting as a 'Memento vivendi’, if you want to put in a snooty art term label to describe it.

It’s a positive statement, but conditionally so. The choice is there for each of us. Let’s hope we choose to move forward and realize the potential for good that lies within us. The painting is about humanity at a vastly important turning point, and whether we go the way of the Gingko [still around thru many mass extinction events] or the ammonite [didn’t make it] is an open question.

(via theartofmichaelwhelan)

PATIENCE (1997) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Panel - 13" x 10½"

All the virtues represented in my series of the same name are ones that seem to me be be in short supply today.

PRUDENCE (1996) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Panel - 12" x 11"

The classical notion of Prudence is an important theme to me, as it was to the ancient Greeks: Possessing knowledge of the Past, and a desire and ability to order the Present so as to bring about a more ideal Future.

HOPE (1997) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 13" x 10"

I feel now that they are reflections upon the transient nature of reality and the fragility of life. Ideal figures carved from stone, even they are subject to age, accident, and injury… yet the worn stone will eventually weather into soil and become reborn as plants, trees, life. So there is resurrection of a sort, even for angels of stone.

FORTITUDE (1997) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 9" x 12"

I got to thinking of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ character John Carter of Mars….whenever it looked like the odds were hopeless and he had no options, his response was a defiant, “I still live!” As in all of the works in this series there are ammonite fossils, though this time they represent an island in turbulent seas. I know there is some symbolic significance as to why he is holding an uprooted tree, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it is…

GENTLENESS (1997) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Canvas - 11" x 13"

Not a classical Virtue, but based on observing my young son with our aging family cat. It’s how I hope we’ll care for all the earth’s creatures.

THE FOURTH CRUSADE (2002) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Panel - 12" x 12"

The Virute of Faith. Constantinople burns in the background….a chance to reread some history lessons.