Friday, November 30, 2007

Where Did My Monkeys Come From?

Squirrel monkey
This is the kind of monkey that I use in my art. Isn't he cute? It's the squirrel monkey from South America. I first painted this monkey back in 2002 in my "Organ Grinder"oil painting. I used a photo from an old, musty book as reference for the monkey on top of the organ. I put a sailor hat on another monkey (that I made up) to add some humor to the painting. Little did I know that I would be painting this monkey over and over again in 2005-2007
as a recurring character in my art.
My native girls (I made all of the girls and their poses up) are supposed to be from Devil's Island ,but alot of people think they are Hawaiian. However, they do not have this type of monkey in Hawaii! And my girls are often seen playing around in inappropriate ways with these creatures.
Or are they? No, everything is fine. :)
The sailor hat is my little addition, but it gives people a sense of deja vu and they think they have seen this monkey before somewhere. My monkey has now become more of a character, drawn from memory. It's half human/half cartoon. But, it's still undeniably a squirrel monkey. From South America. It's the "monkey with the largest brain in relation to it's body size".
My art is painted and drawn from my head, the landscape is made up, but it has a vintage feeling about it. It flows from my intuition, instincts and memory of everything in the world that I have ever seen in a lifetime. It is all about design, composition and making an entertaining picture. The narrative is about ambiguous relationships and what will happen next. It's all a mystery.
Squirrel Monkey
The Art of Amy Crehore

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