MEMORIES OF A DISTANT SEA (1999) by Michael Whelan (final painting and figure study).
(via theartofmichaelwhelan)
Source: michaelwhelan.com
THE INEXORABLE EQUATION (1997) by Michael Whelan
Acrylic on Canvas - 48” x 36”
The window contains a beautiful but threatening view, seen from a place of illusory refuge.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
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
TIME PASSING (2007) by Michael Whelan
Oil on Panel - 26” x 16”
As a native Californian, I really enjoy the change in seasons that I experience living in New England. There is even beauty to be found in the shadows of the leafless trees against the pale gray winter sky. However when I finished this Portals painting in March, I was definitely ready to start seeing more of the sun!
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
