There’s a Bear in Manhattan?
“There’s A Bear in Manhattan?” invites viewers into a surreal daydream: a vibrant grizzly bear balancing high above the Manhattan skyline on a steel beam, echoing the daring stillness of Charles Clyde Ebbets’ iconic Lunch atop a Skyscraper. Inspired by a visit to New York City - and its striking absence of wildlife - this painting urges us to imagine the natural history buried beneath concrete and glass. It’s a meditation on what was lost in the name of progress, and a cautious nod directed at the Denver skyline with Mount Blue Sky in the distant background. Mostly, though, it is a whimsical reminder that wildness still lingers in the collective memory of the land.
There’s A Bear in Manhattan?
30” x 40”, Acrylic On Canvas
$1200.00
Inspiration
While I had pretty good idea how I wanted the scene to look, I was having a hard time getting a picture of Manhattan that would be realistic to paint. I knew when I took the picture from the top of One World Observatory that I wanted to make sure that there was really no question what city the bear was in. However, the detail in the photo proved too busy for my taste so I cropped into one of the most recognizable parts of the city.
Painting the city seemed like a never ending process, but in the end I think it was worth the detail. I’m always working to improve my style, which includes loosening up a bit so I don’t get too bogged down in details, but in this case I really wanted the city to be bustling and busy, which might have been lost had I made an impressionistic cityscape.
As with “An Elephant in Beaver Meadows” I combined the two images in Photoshop to work out the composition. I wanted the bear to stand out so I increased the saturation and placed the bear so that after the viewer’s eye rests on her and then would be guided down to the city below, all the while leaving the Empire State Building as a recognizable anchor on the opposite side.
A nod to Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax