"A Repertoire Of Celestial Absurdities" is a fancy way of telling that the painting is about humanity. What you are seeing is a portion of the artwork I've made since late Winter 2024, and the show shares its title with a painting that's in the show.
I began the year with an interest to improve my wilderness scenery, believing that the ground should have a lot of little rocks and expanded detail in the grass.The results are the title painting for this show and a companion painting titled "Alone In A Cruel Wilderness."
A problem with my left eye caused me to linger on those paintings.You will notice a lot of texture in the paint and that is because I made them almost entirely with a brush of only 3/8" wide. The process took longer and the activity was calming. After those pictures, I was determined to paint as much as I could before my vision became worse. The results brought nearly enough material to have two shows in separate cities.
In late August, I received the care I needed to clear up my vision and ease my worries. My vision is a little better and more comfortable. I observed a sign while driving through Clarksville, Tennessee that read "Throw rugs for sale". It was VERY large and written onto plywood with spray paint. I'm telling you this because I thought it was funny. Don't you think so? I didn't see any evidence of any throw rugs around it. I think that was what I liked the most.
A fragment of architecture is more compelling than the sum when it is part of a painted composition. I say words like this and later I disagree with them. Anything that takes you less than a week to produce is Ice Cream. There's another phrase I spoke. It isn't a weakness to debate your own ideas or revise them. It doesn't slow you down.
I hope you enjoy the art show. I am serious about the paintings.
- Harry Underwood, October 2024