COTTON PICKER, I AM. Artist: Kevin Seward. 1999 24x30 Oil on Canvas
COMMENTS BY THE ARTIST
This painting is from the Ruth Family Trust collection.
Cotton Picker, I am
The inmate is picking cotton in the intense heat -- the red sky, reflected in the waters of the Mississippi River at Angola -- the heat of humid, southern Louisiana. His identification card, with photograph, is attached to the painting. There is the rhythm of the white cotton bolls and the distant treeline (which provides a good visual stop on the other side of the river) -- the interesting bilateral symmetry in the top portion of the painting, contrasts with the asymetric lower area. The sweep of the picker’s bag, from lower right upward to the cotton picker himself, where the eye is immediately led downward again to his hands, picking the cotton, is an example of the ability to draw the viewer’s focus to one single idea -- he is picking cotton.
For more information about this painting: pmc@i-55.com