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Virtual Gallery
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Serrano Valley / Santa Monica Mountain Range - handbrushed and thick impasto oil on stretched cotton duck canvas. |
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During the last few years of the starving artist's long and lackluster career in Los Angeles, he would, upon occasion, travel up the Pacific Coast Highway with Gauguin... an artist who presently lives under another name in the state of Ohio. Gauguin had been living and working in a tiny garret down on Venice Beach. He was always desperate to stay one step ahead of the landlord, the metermaids, and later... the L.A. county sheriff. Gauguin preferred working outdoors in rural and natural settings, and also in various coffee houses around town. He never went any place without drawing books and pencils. Sometimes... R.R.R. would join Gauguin. One such place (and time) was Serrano Valley, a rather remote setting on the extreme northern edge of the Santa Monica mountain range... part of which serves as a stage for the Hollywood Sign. The valley was the opposite of Venice Beach and L.A. It was filled with flowers, and surrounded b! y steep slopes peppered with live oaks. A high bony ridge of rocks on the western side of the valley jutted into the sky; the artists would often draw or paint it from down below. Sometimes the artists camped overnight in the woods near a creek, listening to the squeals of rabbits being caught by coyotes with knashing teeth. Serrano Valley was a beautiful, wild place..."Serrano Valley" (The painting) shows a typical California landscape... It shows the valley the way it was before the great fire. Click on the image for enlarged view |
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Surfboard Bouquet
– hand brushed and heavy impasto oil paint on reinforced cotton duck canvas, wood, resin, machined metals, etc. |
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Click on the image for enlarged view. |
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HAWAII – handbrushed and impasto oil on reinforced cotton duck canvas, wood, resin, machined metals, etc. (26" x 31" x 4") Private Collection / California |
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This painting is the sister version of "Surfboard Bouquet". Click on the image for enlarged view. |
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LOOSE DOG WILL BITE - handbrushed and heavy impasto oil on reinforced cotton duck canvas, wood, metal, etc. |
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Click on the image for enlarged view. |
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CALIFORNIA INSIGHT - handbrushed and heavy impasto oil on reinforced cotton duck canvas, wod, metal, etc. |
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"California Insight" honors the freedom (and also the grand mystery) of the artist muse. It hints at the potential future for the civilization... the licence plate shown in "California Insight" was rather a close call. After the original owner of the plate refused to sell, the artist audaciously removed it while the owner of the vehicle watched him from a window! Alas, the artist finally got away with burning rubber speed, making pig squeals and blue smoke along the way... All this foolish risk ... just for the sake of a powerful muse making future art masterpieces for American art museums. Today they criticize the artist for such miscreant behavior, tomorrow they will celebrate it with grateful wink and nod. Making masterpiece art, sometimes requires taking reasonable chances, and thinking out of the box. Click on the image for enlarged view. |
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COSTA BRAVA
- hand brushed and impasto oil on reinforced cotton duck canvas, wood, resin, painted metals, etc. |
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Picasso had many women to feed his muse. He abused them all, and at the end of his life, doctor cut off his balls. Karma? Probably so. Picasso made great art, but this doesn't mean he had kind heart. The delightful and dangerous muse of Salvador Dali (one of Roehl's favorite artists) was also fed by women, and one in particular. Her name was Gala. She served as lover and mother to Dali... and many other things. But Gala never loved Dali as much as he loved her. She thought him rather childish and foolish, which is why he was such a great artist. Well... it takes a brave fool to fact truth.There have been many women in Roehl's life too, but chronic cash flow problems made them wander, and none of them would play second fiddle to Roehl's powerful muse. The most influential of all was Annie, a woman the artist never kissed or even saw up close. She was a seductive siren song on a distant coast... far from Costa Brava. Well... it takes a brave fool to seek true love. Click on the image for enlarged view. |
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