Masks and Masses

These paintings use layered oil, acrylic, and fabric to portray images of that range from realistic to abstract, to cartoon, to diagrammatic. Some make use of multiple layers of semi-transparent fabric, sealed together with acrylic, giving the surface a waxy appearance. Overlapping or veiled images play an important role. One notable subject, clowns, function like animated archetypal costumes, blurring the line between human and cartoon.  Framed by a history of using humor and humiliation as a guise for progressive ideas and unspoken “truths.”  The surface layer of a clown highlights the unstable and often antagonistic relationship between costume and flesh.  While the costume performs an erasure of identity, it grants the person a different sort of voice and a more public presence.  They are vulnerable protagonists, deserving visibility and recognition. In this work they are chameleon-esque tricksters, veiled in many different uniforms.

  • six hundred pound parachute
    oil/acrylic on canvas Britta Austin’s Artifacts

  • R.I.P.G.C.

    R.I.P.G.C.: George Carlin may he rest peacefully in eternal slumber softly pushing daisies.
    H: 50” x W: 44” Acrylic, Pen, Canvas

  • Royal/Ringling/Rendering compass menagerie

    Royal/Ringling/Rendering compass menagerie
    acrylic on canvas/cotton, 60″ x 48″

  • inflatedeflate (bucket field goal)

    inflatedeflate (bucket field goal)
    H: 40″ x W: 30″ Acrylic, Pen, Transfers, Canvas, Cotton

  • Slot Machine

    Slot Machine
    48″ x 36″, oil and acrylic

  • Under the Lights

    Under the Lights
    48″ x 36″, oil and acrylic

  • Transamerica
    40″ x 30″, oil and acrylic

  • Museum

    Museum
    80″ x 32″, oil and acrylic

  • Gears

    Gears
    80″ x 32″, oil and acrylic

  • Drone of the Laughing Dove
    80″ x 32″, oil and acrylic

  • The building epidemic
    80″ x 54″, oil and acrylic

  • Putting holes in the ground. Blowing souls around.

    Putting holes in the ground. Blowing souls around.
    oil and acrylic on two canvases, 48″ x 72″

  • Old Fashioned Domestication

    Old Fashioned Domestication
    24″ x 18″, oil and acrylic

  • Swift Plunderer
    24″ x 18″, oil and acrylic

  • Ape to man
    24″ x 36″, oil and acrylic

  • Find the dagger, face the monster
    32″ x 15″, oil and acrylic on both sides of linen

  • Strings of examination
    2 canvases each
    48″ x 30″, oil and acrylic

  • Operational Exhaustion
    40″ x 30″, oil and acrylic

  • Big Top Mania
    30″ x 40″, oil and acrylic

  • Parachutes and Robots
    24″ x 36″, oil and acrylic

  • Divine Mockery of the Serpent
    36″ x 68″, oil and acrylic

  • Compass of four humours
    40″ x 30″, oil and acrylic

  • Performers and stages
    14″ x 24″, oil and acrylic

  • Dissociative Fugues
    40″ x 62″, oil and acrylic

  • Whales
    30″ x 40″, oil and acrylic

  • The exterior of an open heart
    72″ x 48″, oil and acrylic

  • Interior of an open heart
    72″ x 48″

  • Separated, Connected.
    72″ x 40″, oil and acrylic

  • Centre Court Protestor Party
    24″ x 18″ acrylic, pencil, pen, collage

  • Field generals of kinetic entertainment
    24″ x 18″ acrylic, pencil, pen, collage

  • Supervisors of image management
    24″ x 18″ acrylic, pencil, pen, collage

  • Delegates of Commercial Franchise Diplomacy
    24″ x 18″ acrylic, pencil, pen, collage

Creative Commons License