Adam and Eve Inverted

The Project

The project is two 72 x 46 inch oil paintings of a life sized nude male and female facing the Pacific Ocean. Instead of expressing Adam and Eve's legendary fear and guilt they each stand naturally facing open space. 

The Story

The vision of standing naked and free, and facing open space, light, sand, and sea. No religion, no wars, no stupid products, and no confinements to block our possibilities. This stance rocks my world. It's not that I am anti-business or anti-progress or anything like that, it's just that the spirit of facing the world without those distractions reminds me of our innocence, our humanity, and our hope for living in a special world. And it gives me unbearable pleasure to touch that in paint everyday. 

Rethinking Art History and Keeping It Fresh

It keeps things fresh to rethink art history and try new things, like finding ways to create unique color harmonies for the paintings. By drawing pastels on location I came up with interesting combinations of rusts, blues, aquas, and earth hues. Those pastel studies will play a major part in setting the color theory for the oil paintings and give them a nuance that is unrepeatable. 

Underway

The project is well underway. Alanna Burns and Javier Cervantes are the models. They have already posed for the graphite studies. The are both young artists themselves, sensitive to their surroundings, philosophical, creative, and caring. And as soon as I met them, inspiration to work with them hit home. 

The Background

A few weeks ago for a couple of days, on the vast California beach of San Onofre, I drew 30 pastels and 6 charcoal landscape backgrounds for this project. Salt, sand, marine layers, sun, currents, and wind influenced the feeling of my mark making. 

(You can view the 30 plus landscapes rewards here.)

What is Next To Do

Now that all the studies are done, what is left is to pull everything together: two monumental works (life-size figure); twist on art history; unique color combinations; and a theme of facing freedom.

The woman painting is already started and is in a monochromatic stage. The plan is to stretch the man's canvas (Belgium linen) and place it along side the woman. And continue to work them side by side. 

Where You Come In

Optimistically this will take me 3 months working 24/7. The Kickstarter goal of $6,000 is basically to pay for time. Practically all my projects go through to completion but usually take time because I balance finishing them with selling smaller works. This is where you come in. 

Offering smaller works, such as the works above, and selling them all at once makes it much easier to complete major works. It's like having a patron! Please consider a donation that you feel comfortable with, and you will be rewarded with an artwork(s) at a fair value. This will definitely contribute to inverting the legend of Adam and Eve and striking a stance for freedom! 

Michael Newberry