My favorite Christmas art is when the USSR brought Santa out of retirement to mock the US about losing the space race. Santa was depicted delivering Christmas world wide on Soviet spaceships
That last painting looks like a scene out of John Carpenter's The Fog. Very haunting. The second one, the Christmas tree with the open door, feels more inviting and warm. Overall, pretty cool collection. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Chuck, did you see the questions I asked about definitive text editions on the recent ‘Greener Pastures’ post? If not, I could copy and paste the question here, if you wouldn’t mind.
The POV is mainly of someone standing outside a house, looking in through the woods, dark windows on some of the houses. The lurking figures in the shadows turn out to be the silhouettes of bushes. The houses with lights inside don’t have presents or pairs of shoes. The Christmas tree and colorful lights are warm but shine against a mainly monochrome pallet. Lonely in color but rich in tone. The POV is alone on a holiday where people get together.
The paintings feel the way loneliness does. But loneliness who’s appreciating nature. The shadows and light are cozy and lovely, against the loneliness of the color and point of view.
I like them, but I think Christmas lights and scenes always look a bit sinister when there is no human there. I suppose it makes your brain think 'why are they on?' 'who put them on?' 'who left them on?' The answers you naturally form are sinister.
Happy Christmas! Thanks for another good year here. Not been posting as much as I'd like but always reading and trying to take in all the lessons and information. Hope everyone is doing great.
Y’all need kids. Nostalgia is all I see. Past few years we’ve rented a cabin in Prescott AZ. Our two boys (7&10) have a blast playing in the snow with their cousins. S’mores by the fire. Headed there tomorrow! Feliz Navidad 🎄
These feel cold and sad. It can be about how feasts such as Christmas offer bit of warmth in the cold, but it seems that it's the pov of someone who is as lonely as that christams tree in the 2nd painting. Wouldn't say a creep/intruder, it reminded me of that scene where Di Caprio broke out of a French prison in Catch me If You Can, and sat outside the window of a house during Christmas, lonely and sad. Wishing to belong.
I love these works. You can look at them and see mystery, which can be seen both as cozy as well as sinister. As they appear very natural and common, I initially see the former, but dig how they can be construed to be dark and possibly scary.
They are reminiscent of the Hansel and Gretel gingerbread/candy house. Middle of the woods. Enticing. Further, we are used to colored lights being the most in-focus part of any visual scene. Here, they are distorted which creates tension.
These (especially the last one) make me feel like a stalker. What is the viewer doing in the woods (or in any of these spots?) Are the headlights those of my accomplice, or the unsuspecting family coming home from some holiday party? Either way, ominous indeed.
Haha love these. I saw on Reddit a while ago someone asking what they think of people with a bunch of Christmas decorations in their yard, such as those inflatable blowups. The top comment was that they think these people have too much money and are a giant sign for home burglars saying “please rob me”...
Merry Christmas, Chuck, and everyone on the this substack. I received 'Bait' and 'Legacy' this year and blown away by how gorgeous they are. Fantastic concept.
These are bleak. Recalls Edward Hopper and his Nighthawks, but at least those figures had each other. In any of these homes an axe murderer could have been weaned…
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/12/jeremy-miranda-holiday-paintings/
A total dreamland-vibe. I dig it
Merry Christmas Chuck!
The last one, with the green lights, you get the feeling you wouldn’t want to be there at midnight.
Reminds me a lot of these types of opals I've been looking at lately. Boulder opal. You have dark fossilized wood with colorful opal growth in the rings. I'm a sucker for this type of design! https://www.zmescience.com/other/geopicture/geopicture-of-the-week-tree-fossil-with-opal-growth-rings/ and https://www.opalauctions.com/auctions/165ct-23x16mm-yowah-boulder-opal-lob-2678-782771?epik=dj0yJnU9MWYySVM1NTZCclJPMW1Rb0hzSWhmUk9zX2wyYVZnSzgmcD0wJm49OWNZQ0pvckU5eWxPR3BiN3BXNUFudyZ0PUFBQUFBR09vdUsw
They all look like they are painted from the perspective of a stalker / intruder. Creepy.
The first and fifth remind me of Kingston
My favorite Christmas art is when the USSR brought Santa out of retirement to mock the US about losing the space race. Santa was depicted delivering Christmas world wide on Soviet spaceships
https://hyperallergic.com/476788/vintage-soviet-santa-postcards-were-propaganda-for-the-space-race/
I find them atmospheric. Although, now that it's in my head, a little Evil Deadish
That last painting looks like a scene out of John Carpenter's The Fog. Very haunting. The second one, the Christmas tree with the open door, feels more inviting and warm. Overall, pretty cool collection. Thanks for sharing!
The dark blue cold lighting in these paintings, combined with the snow, has me thinking of John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’. Very festive!
Hey Chuck, did you see the questions I asked about definitive text editions on the recent ‘Greener Pastures’ post? If not, I could copy and paste the question here, if you wouldn’t mind.
The POV is mainly of someone standing outside a house, looking in through the woods, dark windows on some of the houses. The lurking figures in the shadows turn out to be the silhouettes of bushes. The houses with lights inside don’t have presents or pairs of shoes. The Christmas tree and colorful lights are warm but shine against a mainly monochrome pallet. Lonely in color but rich in tone. The POV is alone on a holiday where people get together.
The paintings feel the way loneliness does. But loneliness who’s appreciating nature. The shadows and light are cozy and lovely, against the loneliness of the color and point of view.
I like them, but I think Christmas lights and scenes always look a bit sinister when there is no human there. I suppose it makes your brain think 'why are they on?' 'who put them on?' 'who left them on?' The answers you naturally form are sinister.
Happy Christmas! Thanks for another good year here. Not been posting as much as I'd like but always reading and trying to take in all the lessons and information. Hope everyone is doing great.
Y’all need kids. Nostalgia is all I see. Past few years we’ve rented a cabin in Prescott AZ. Our two boys (7&10) have a blast playing in the snow with their cousins. S’mores by the fire. Headed there tomorrow! Feliz Navidad 🎄
Merry Christmas!
They’re eerie, but in a beautiful way. Reminds me of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
These feel cold and sad. It can be about how feasts such as Christmas offer bit of warmth in the cold, but it seems that it's the pov of someone who is as lonely as that christams tree in the 2nd painting. Wouldn't say a creep/intruder, it reminded me of that scene where Di Caprio broke out of a French prison in Catch me If You Can, and sat outside the window of a house during Christmas, lonely and sad. Wishing to belong.
Chuck thinks those images are scary, please
Individually they wouldn’t seem eerie, but as a collection they do because the perspective always stays outside, removed, looking in.
I love these works. You can look at them and see mystery, which can be seen both as cozy as well as sinister. As they appear very natural and common, I initially see the former, but dig how they can be construed to be dark and possibly scary.
The second picture feels like it’s trapped in resin because of the shine off the floor
They look like if someone recreated via painting, crime scene photos but opted to leave out the gore. Creepy, stoic, functional. I love them.
creepy with a little hope thrown in.
Oh, I love them! 😻
They are reminiscent of the Hansel and Gretel gingerbread/candy house. Middle of the woods. Enticing. Further, we are used to colored lights being the most in-focus part of any visual scene. Here, they are distorted which creates tension.
These (especially the last one) make me feel like a stalker. What is the viewer doing in the woods (or in any of these spots?) Are the headlights those of my accomplice, or the unsuspecting family coming home from some holiday party? Either way, ominous indeed.
They're wonderfully creepy and cozy, warm and cold
Haha love these. I saw on Reddit a while ago someone asking what they think of people with a bunch of Christmas decorations in their yard, such as those inflatable blowups. The top comment was that they think these people have too much money and are a giant sign for home burglars saying “please rob me”...
Merry Christmas, Chuck, and everyone on the this substack. I received 'Bait' and 'Legacy' this year and blown away by how gorgeous they are. Fantastic concept.
These are bleak. Recalls Edward Hopper and his Nighthawks, but at least those figures had each other. In any of these homes an axe murderer could have been weaned…
For me the feeling changes based on what I choose to project onto the paintings.
Holy shit these are scary AS HELL. Like Friday the 13th Christmas shots.
The are no people in the houses. What we are seeing is a crime scene being documented.
Sinister