Seer

Painting

Purdue University Galleries

Name/Title

Seer

Entry/Object ID

2014.09

Description

Oil, gold leaf on birch. A central figure of a man is placed inside a simple background of varying shades of gold with little blue stars. The man or the “seer” looks out at the viewer holding a singular lit candle at the bottom of the picture plane. The man dress in a light purple zip-up sweatshirt has a red sort of sash draped over the right side of him. His chin titled upwards at the viewer, exposes the head wear that the central figure is wearing. He looks from the bottom of his eyes at the viewer, and this position creates a sense of unease and mystery to the piece. There is an extreme attention to detail in the face of the man, and the light and shadows of his face and neck, as well as the folds in his clothes creates an amazing contrast which gives this piece a three-dimensionality in a very simplistic yet effective way. The single candle, which is lighted, gives the piece a mysterious quality. The overall composition is very well balanced with the central image being the main visual anchor of the piece, and the very simple background balancing the very detailed rendering. The more muted colors of purples, browns, and tans also work to complement each other and create a balanced composition.

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil, Gold

Made/Created

Artist

Chris Sedgwick

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Color

Gold, Cream, Tan, Red, White, Green, Light blue

Exhibition

Lilliputians March: National Small Works Competition (2014)