Large-Scale Mixed-Media Painting - "Moby Dick"

Moby Dick — Large-Scale Mixed-Media Sculptural Artwork

A monumental and highly tactile mixed-media work, Moby Dick blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture. Measuring approximately 6 feet wide by 4.5 feet tall, the piece is dominated by an enormous black whale whose body physically projects from the surface, giving the work a dramatic three-dimensional presence.

The whale is rendered with vigorous, gestural passages of black, charcoal and deep muted color against a heavily worked field of chalky whites and soft grays. Scratches, incised lines, visible brushwork and areas of thickly applied material give the surface an almost weathered quality, while flashes of blue, turquoise, red, yellow and green emerge around the figure like fragments of sea, movement and atmosphere.

What makes the work particularly striking is its construction. The whale is not simply an image painted onto a flat canvas; portions of its body are built outward from the picture plane, creating genuine relief and casting subtle shadows across the surface. From different angles, the composition changes as the sculptural form becomes more or less pronounced.

We’ve titled the piece Moby Dick, a fitting reference for a work whose immense black form seems simultaneously recognizable and abstract—a whale emerging from, or perhaps disappearing into, a turbulent field of paint and texture.

At roughly 72” W × 54” H, its scale and physicality make it a true statement piece: part abstract expressionist painting, part sculptural assemblage, and an artwork that really needs to be experienced from across a room and up close.