I’ve been painting these ‘Unpopular Penguins’ for four years now (this is number 434), having a good deal of success with them in galleries and shows. The starting point is the original design of the ‘Penguin classics’ books, transformed and distorted by multiple layers of paint, expressive brushwork, drips and spatters. This one is obviously a little different, being an arrangement of many Penguin books.
The paintings in this series are held in collections around the world, and have been in various art prizes and prominent Australian galleries. Edmund Capon, former director of the Art Gallery of NSW, said of the first painting in this series, ‘an evocative imagining of the familiar Penguin paperback...it was a painting we all liked very much for its rich texture, its sense of memory and its sort of nostalgic humour’
This painting is on stretched canvas, with painted sides, and it is ready to hand without needing framing. Note that I am happy to take commissions, of any book you choose, in a range of colours and sizes.
For lovers of art, books, and classic design.