California Halibut with Measuring Tape

Adam Higgins
2020

  • Medium:Oil on canvas
  • Year:2020
  • Size:76.2x91.44cm

Description

This work is part of a series of paintings by Adam Higgins based on the California halibut. The halibuts in the series were first caught by the artist himself, then photographed with a phone camera, after which the fish would be released back into the water. In the works, Higgins attempts to achieve a double-layered visual experience by flattening a fish that has already tried to flatten itself (the California halibut is a type of flatfish) — a fish becomes a photograph, which becomes a painting, and then reappears to the viewer as a fish. While painting the fish itself, Higgins emphasizes the intersecting phenomena of nature, photography, and painting, such as lighting, shading, framing, as well as visual particularities found in the subject and its surroundings. These aspects are eventually translated into dots of color or lines on the canvas, allowing the viewer to experience the vibrant energies of art and life between the real and the imaginary.

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