David Maddy
Indiana University
BRIGHT IDEA
Mixed media on canvas
15" x 11"
Years ago I made a painting of a lamp, I liked it and then stuffed it in a pile. A few months ago I took this painting out from under said pile and, with the same embarrassed reaction you get when you look at your hairdo in your 10th grade yearbook picture, I was equally embarrassed by how my painting looked. Why did I think it was a good idea to use that much brown? The painting was an emblem of how faux-antiqued I used to paint everything -- "when in doubt use more brown". I don't think that way anymore. I got a bright idea: turn it upside down, slather it in slick, clean, bright yellow and top it off with some shades. Unlike the permanence of a published yearbook picture, I can always keep on painting to change the past of a picture to reflect my current tastes. Currently yellow is my new brown.