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Abstract Inquiry · 2020
Colorful Caterpillar
Playful Abstraction and Metamorphosis
Available · in the studio, Phoenix
The caterpillar as abstraction — metamorphosis distilled to color and form, the creature that is already its own becoming.
Colorful Caterpillar (2020) is part of my Playful Abstraction Collection, a series where I explored humor, transformation, and the absurdities of form. This 48 x 36 inch acrylic on canvas is a riot of color and gesture, featuring undulating green and orange forms that dance across the surface like a caterpillar caught mid-metamorphosis.
The painting refuses rigidity. Forms tumble over each other, embracing awkwardness, exaggeration, and joy. I wanted this work to feel alive, wriggling out of the confines of the canvas, celebrating the messy, awkward stages of transformation.
In spirit, Colorful Caterpillar echoes the playful, rebellious energy of Elizabeth Murray, whose abstract works often transformed into cartoon-like creatures with a joyous defiance. Like Murray, I aim to bring humor and irreverence to abstraction, reminding viewers that art can be both serious and absurd, disciplined and unruly.
Colorful Caterpillar is less about the insect itself and more about the process of becoming — the squirming, uncomfortable, but necessary stages before flight. It is an ode to embracing our awkwardness, our not-yet selves, and finding beauty in the in-between.
Where to see it. In person at RituStudio, Phoenix, by appointment. Represented by Jarrow & Goodman, Los Angeles.
The space it needs
- Wall
- At least 5 ft wide
- Ceiling
- 8 ft or more
- Light
- Natural light preferred — oil layers shift through the day
- Daylight
- Burnt sienna and crimson warm in the afternoon while midnight blue and olive hold, so the creature changes mood through the day without losing shape. Direct sun softens its modest contrast.
Lives best in
Living room 5/5
Colorful Caterpillar earns its place here because the crimson and olive pulse against the near-black ground changes register as afternoon light crosses the oil layers, giving a living room the slow drama it needs to sustain daily attention.
Hotel lobby 4/5
At three by four feet it holds its own in a lobby without overwhelming it, and the burnt sienna and midnight blue read as sophisticated rather than corporate, stopping a passing guest long enough to feel the aliveness in the form.
Details
- Size
- 3 × 4 ft (W × H)
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Year
- 2020
- Collection
- Abstract Inquiry
- Palette
- Near Black · Charcoal Gray · Burnt Sienna · Midnight Blue · Olive Green · Crimson
- Weight
- About 22 lb
- Ready
- In the studio; delivery 8–12 weeks
Its ArtGram
ArtGram.Frond
- Texture3
- Form1
- Colour range4
- Palette3.2
- Contrast2.4
- Abstraction Quotient3
