HIGHGATE MIST (2010) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic - 10” x 8”
Looking for sketching subjects, I started to seek out sculptures of angels and enjoyed using them as models. Not knowing why they particularly attracted me, I guess you could say I went ahead and painted them on faith, knowing that the deeper meaning would become more apparent to me as time went on.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
EMPIRE OF DREAMS (2005) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic on Gessoboard - 28” x 22”
A world of concrete works in disarray, thrown about by some unknown cataclysm. The figure in the image realizes that safety lies not in hiding in darkness but in facing reality, seeking light, and acquiring knowledge. It is only with knowledge and the advantages of a greater perspective that one can hope to overcome obstacles.
This personal work can be seen as the cover of ECLIPSE ONE, an anthology of new science fiction and fantasy stories, edited by Jonathan Strahan, Night Shade Books.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
EPHEMEROS (2002) by Michael Whelan
Oil on Canvas - 48” x 36”
Another meditation on Prudence.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
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.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
TERMINUS (2007) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic on Canvas - 36” X 48”
Growing up in the fifties and sixties most of us fully expected the progress so evident in society and the space sciences to continue at the same headlong pace they had shown during those years. As a young boy I never imagined that by the new millennium we would not even have a base on the moon yet!
This painting references the space program, specifically the manned missions to the moon and beyond. Clues abound, all related to what Laurie Anderson has termed the “Post-Lunar Period.” The moon missions ended with Apollo 17, so orange signs go from the near disastrous mission #13 (the sign is bent and askew) to the final one #17. That seventeenth mission left on December 14th, 1972 when I was 22. The figure is an oblique reference to myself as a child, trying to peer into a wondrous yet mostly indiscernible future.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
COUNTERPOINT (2015) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic on Cradled Canvas Panel - 6" x 6"
Source: michaelwhelan.com
GRAVITY (2002) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic on Canvas - 43” x 35”
Once when I was being sedated for surgery and I was counting backwards, “99, 98, …” I felt this surge of irresistible calm sweep over me like a vast tide of night. While I floated away I felt myself become totally, completely relaxed. I realized in an instant that I had been unknowingly living my life in a state of being clenched. It was a blessed relief to feel all the tension completely give way to ultimate relaxation—maybe for the first time in my adult life.
In the days and weeks of recovery and rehabilitation that followed and the exigencies of getting back to work, I forgot that brief flash of self-awareness, but fortunately the memory returned one night just as I was falling asleep. With the awareness came this metaphor for the experience.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
WINDOW TO THE SUN (2006) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 13” x 11”
Since my most recent resolution to devote all my time to my gallery work I’ve been obsessed with painting these passageways. It doesn’t take a Sigmund Freud to figure out why. The career transition I seek to make is a prospect both compelling yet unnerving, so my dreams are filled with these iconic representations of my ambivalences. Most seem to be subjective derivations of experiences in previous years, exploring ruins of castles and abbeys in the UK.
In the case of this particular example, I have placed the symbol of my soul consciousness or desires on the other side, waiting for fulfillment. Waiting for me to come into the full light. I’m sending messages to myself here…. I think.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
SENTINELS (1988) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic on Canvas
After more than a decade of continuous illustration work, SENTINELS was Michael Whelan’s first non-commissioned painting and it’s still a favorite with fans. Who can resist imagining a peaceful world where children are enjoying nature and the symbols of war are falling into ruin?
Source: michaelwhelan.com
ARMENIA (1990) by Michael Whelan
Oil on Canvas - 22” x 35”
Ar-me-ni-a, city in the sky a Who song, not the country. This painting deals with what the author Barbara Tuchman describes as the disillusionments of 20th Century Man. Among the most crushing of these is the death of two cherished notions: that of progress and the perfectibility of mankind.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
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