Robert laDuke

This is the second in a series of posts in which I highlight some of my favourite living artists. Today I'm pleased to feature the work of Robert LaDuke.

I guess it's no surprise that anyone whose work so often features those old 'Jellymould' shaped cars would instantly appeal to me, after all I'm a sucker for the shape, style and pure nostalgia value of those old cars. But with Robert LaDukes work there is another element - the sense that 'Something's about to happen' permeates much of his output.

They also manage to convey man's spirit of adventure, something that is being increasingly stifled in today's world of 'health and safety'. In the painting below an aeroplane flies so dangerously close to the bridge...is he racing that car? Will he fly a loop under the bridge next? Will he crash?

So much of what Robert paints using his beautifully clear and bright colours has the ability to amuse, intrigue, and at the very least simply make us smile that it is hard not to like them.
The paintings also evoke a time when the world was a much simpler place, and the individual risking his all in pursuit of his goal was not something to be frowned upon as it would be today.

My interpretation of Roberts works is that they are a celebration of man's achievements, his quirks, and his folly's. Painted with never less than true affection, as seen through the eyes of an amused bystander in an idyllic past.