Colorful Landscapes

Long Island, Casco Bay, Maine; oil on canvas

random ocean scene; oil on canvas

Menikoe Point, Falmouth Foreside, Maine
watercolor on canvas

Ocean/Island scene
acrylic on cardboard

'Sun sets over the sea'
acrylic on cardboard

Lil' Cranberry Island, Ilesford, Maine
acrylic on cardboard

Untitled, acrylic on cardboard

Ocean scene; watercolor on paper

country scene; pen/ink with watercolor

Untitled; acrylic on cardboard

'Stars in a Winter night'
oil on canvas

Florida ocean scene; water color with colored pencil

New Open Salon Blog

Hey you people,

I've just created a new blog space on Open Salon, part of the cool Salon.com website. Salon has great articles and reporting, and was founded by one of my all time favorite columnists/ intellectuals, Camille Paglia! I wanted to create this space to also display my art, and in hopes that visitors who check out my page there will click the link for RobsWorks and view the extensive online gallery here. Here is a link to my new blog space there, check it OUT!

http://open.salon.com/blog/rizkid

Doodle Art, Part I

I was speaking with my friend Jamia the other day when she mentioned to me that she thought
my doodles and cartoons are my best work, and that I should feature them prominently
on work that I display online; sort of putting my 'best foot forward'. I appreciated her advice and so the post is the first of many more displaying this type of work. These 'doodles' were created while I was procrastinating at work or day-dreaming during a lecture at school (notice the scraps of paper they're drawn on). I hope you enjoy them; feel free to comment or submit your own doodles to me for display on this site.

Featured Artist: Jamia Weir

My awesome and talented friend Jamia is an artist, actress, model and art teacher in Los Anglese. I just received this work by her and I wanted to display it right away...

External Links

These are some other websites where I display my art...check 'em out!

www.myspace.com/rizkid
http://artists.gawker.com/5162534/rob-mccarthy
http://artists.gawker.com/304427/rob-mccarthy

Homes and buildings

rental house; water-color painting

McCarthy residence, Cumberland, ME; pencil sketch

Donohue residence; pen & ink sketch

Bergson residence; pen & ink

house, Stuart, FL; watercolor painting

Delux restaurant; oil painitng

Friends' Artwork

by Megan Fitz

by Jamia Weir

by Jamia Weir

by Jamia Weir

by Laura Smith

Artist's statement

Pop culture has always captured my imagination and influenced my artwork. I am fascinated by the way it is articulated through mixed media, whether it be in a tabloid, a music video, an action figure, fashion or film. My goal as an artist is to translate these social statements, both the mundane and extraordinary into an artistic vehicle.

My work aims to elicit a strong reaction from its’ viewer. The characters and landscapes I present here provide an over-the-top, exaggerated aesthetic that pushes the boundaries of what people expect and challenge their traditional ideas of portrait and landscape painting. Particularly with my female subjects, I'm trying to push the envelope and to be offensive in a way that provokes my audience to think about if and why a piece is problematic, or perhaps why it is not cohesive to prevailing social standards.

I have long been captivated by the powerful, feminine images presented in zaftig idol of ancient cultures, the pages of the Playboy Magazine or the Barbie Dolls my sister played with as a child. I love the generous curves, large, shimmering red lips, and over flowing bodice of the glamorous female figures, and this aesthetic carries over to my work with portraits and pinups. By using the traditional female archetype in art, characterized by exaggerated features of the female form (breast, eyes, cheek bones, chins, lips) I'm exploring and interpreting an ideology that challenges conventional norms of portraiture or figure drawing, while maintaining a thread of humor and irony in my work. Many of my pieces demonstrate the synthetic, surgically enhanced, plastic like qualities of what we expect as beauty in today’s fashion and pornography industries, as though the woman I’m depicting have a few coats of wax polish over their bodies. I also create pieces that exploit imperfections and deformities, which I think are even more important to the viewing experience. I believe it is these different interpretations of female beauty that I am able to incorporate unique details and visual anomalies that create an unforgettable piece.

Studying Fine Art at the University of Vermont allowed me to experiment with many mediums and various artistic genres. I found painting or drawing still life or traditional subjects limiting; I enjoy the freedom that my own imagination provides me. Nothing is off limits when an image from my imagination is interpreted onto paper or canvas. I certainly use still life and models to put several of my characters or landscapes into the context of ‘real life’ in order to challenge what may be expected or is traditional. For example, I may use a model to draw a specific dance pose; the position of the hands, the spry movements of the fingers, the arch of the neck and tilt of the head. By using unique color combinations, and thoughtful brush strokes, I'm able to create the illusion of light and shadow, form and figure. I am interested not only in the liberty that abstract art affords the artist but in the interpretative independence it lends to audiences.

Much of my artwork evolves out of finished pieces. One of the most fulfilling aspects of my work is reworking the product. Long after completion, it's a thrill to come back and discover new parts of the image I didn't see before. Time and distance from a piece, and subsequent experiences, help me acquire fresh insight.

My work demonstrates a strong emphasis on line. As drawing was the first medium I worked in, my use of pen and ink has become quite sophisticated, and I'm able to manipulate line to add the intricate, intimate details that shape the wild, exaggerate style I embrace. However, gouache, oil and acrylic painting are recent progressions in my work. I find that the use of paint lets me drive the boundaries of color and line, which are achieved differently with pen and ink.

Introduction; Welcome to Rob's Works

This is a place to view and display art, so have a look, have some fun and please let the comments flow freely....love Rob.