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Outsider Artist: "Sky" Creates a Modern Madonna - Mother of the Son of God

Outsider Art is art by self-taught or naive art makers.  In the case of "Sky" she is outside the mainstream of the professional art field and she uses her art to calm her soul, which is in keeping with Outsider Art.  Her Madonna portrait is reflective of the biblical text coming from Matthew 1:18, Mary is touched by the Holy Spirit, pregnant, yet still not a mother.

Sky's art works start with a traditional canvas stretched over a frame.  Yet frames are made out of materials that are easily available from the trash or leftovers from a building site.  In other words, the frames could be 2 X 4 wall construction studs.  Her canvases are divided into sections where she paints the flat sections with different areas of color.  There is no shadowing, or gradation, just flat sections of color that delineate this Modern Madonna's hair, face, neck, shoulders, and breasts.  The breasts are highlighted with candy gum drop nipples.

Sky uses something like "3D Scribbles" fabric paint pens that come in plastic tubes and can be used to create dots or can work like a fabric marker.  These fabric art pens come in brilliant and glitter colors.  When the plastic paint dries it becomes very textural.  These art tools allow Sky to create her version of modern Aboriginal Australian Art.  In this painting, Mary is now no longer a girl from the Middle East, but an Aboriginal figure from southeast Asia.

Sky becomes an indigenous artist with her fabric tube paints.  In the case of Modern Madonna, she uses the dot pattern to create a halo around Madonna's gray Afro, that accentuates Madonna's face, and outlines her neck and shoulders.  Her green eyes stare blankly forward with no pupils.  She layers the dots in rows and sometimes lays down a line of color and then puts the dots on top adding another layer of texture to the canvas.

"Modern Madonna"
36 Inches Square
Signed in the Lower Right:  Sky
Acrylic and Fabric Pen on Canvas

The focus is on the Modern Madonna, which is dead center providing directness of expression.  The background is highly decorated with squares and trapezoids.  Inside those squares and trapezoids are circles and dots, with scribbles, that develops a day-glow pattern.  These patterned areas are lime green, ocean blue, and orange with two flavors.  Each square has a center circle with a dot that designates a pupil.  These pattern areas take on a quilt motif where each block becomes lovingly created in the overall background composition.

There is no doubt that the artist uses simple patterns and shapes to create this Modern Madonna.  As an outsider artist, she doesn't need art training to communicate her subject.  We know that it is a Madonna made up of materials from a craft store, but it is her vision that succeeds beyond words.  Her work stops us dead in our tracks as we take a second look at the simple shapes that creates the Mother of Jesus and the quilt patterns that creates the background.  To my readers that celebrate Christmas - Merry Christmas.

"Sky" Signature

Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art Blog wishes all readers.................Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.


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