Currently undergoing some renovations to the lobby of their beautiful Zaha Hadid-designed space in downtown Cincinnati, the Contemporary Art Center has made an inspired move. While the main entrance is closed, the museum asked local artist and curator Michael Stillion to paint a temporary mural for the temporary entrance. We asked Michael to tell us a little about the piece. Here’s what he sent:
“Blood, milk, sky and gold” is the title of this site-specific piece. The words describe each color used in the mural. Blood (life) is red, milk (food) is white, blue (weather) is sky and gold (money) is yellow. We need all of these things to live, only one we have imposed onto ourselves- gold. Using the patterns to push movement and flow becomes a dominant and approachable feature of the work. The realism of the simplified folds and wrinkles become an abstraction within the painting. There are two “flashes” positioned across from one anther. These “flashes” represent how quickly all these things we live for can be gone in an instant. The painting spans over fifty feet by ten feet of the Contemporary Arts Center’s walls. The location is in the temporary lobby of the institution. It will be on view for three months. After that time it will be closed off from the public becoming a hidden mural.
Here are a few more views of “Blood, milk, sky and gold”. Read a Q & A with Stillion about the piece at the CAC’s website. Here’s a link to the interview we did with Stillion way back in 2009.
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