Paintings From A Life

247

Using a painting knife, Francis Mesaros places a wedge of oil paint on a seascape. A large canvas is composed of thousands of deftly placed wedges.

His paintings are as mesmerizing as the sea itself. Composed of thousands of crescent-shaped wedges of oil paint, Francis Mesaros’s canvases contemplate the eternal theme of sea and sky. At the horizon line, which occurs about a fifth of the way from the top of the painting, the waves begin as tiny slivers of paint that advance down the canvas, row upon row, in ever larger, scale-shaped strokes. By the time they reach the bottom, the semi-circles of paint are thick and dimensional; they cantilever from the painting’s surface like shelf mushrooms at the base of a tree.

Reflections are what Francis’s paintings are about. Each glistening, dimensional stroke catches the ambient light that falls upon it, sending forth a sparkling highlight that is as real – and as evanescent – as the glint from an ocean wave. Reflections are also what the artist is about. Francis uses his seascapes both to mirror, and to induce, a reflective state of mind.

Read the entire article in the Summer 2010 issue

Facebook Comments