J. Steven Manolis (b. 1948-)
Flamingo 1832-2016 (Sunfilled), 2016
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
Framed Dimensions: 32.25 x 32.25 x 3.5 inches
Framed in a Guggenheim natural wood floating frame.
Nature is “God’s art,” according J. Steven Manolis. Manolis’ nature abstractions are his exploration of his relationship with nature and man's relationship with nature. He also uses his abstractions as a warning to man about climate change and protecting nature.
The flamingo have been severely affected by climate change. The early Audubon paintings of the flamingo show a much more vibrant pink bird. As pollution and climate change have affected the shrimp which the flamingo eat, its color has changed to a more orange pink color. Manolis points out through his painting, that man has to take care of the earth because the affects of the damage are permanent.
Nature is also about celebrating beauty. Manolis explains, “The combination of pink and orange, supplemented by synergistic colors, are among my favorite fascinations, and thus fair game for my abstract interpretations of beauty: then pink, now orange, coexisting as one creation.”
Manolis, is an American abstract expressionist artist who paints in both watercolors and acrylics on canvas. He studied for 30 years under the tutelage of world renown colorist and former student of Hans Hofman, Wolf Kahn (1927-2020).
Donald Kuspit, a leading art critic, would go on to write about Manolis, "When it comes to Color, and the intellectual pursuit of ‘Communicating Through Color,’ Wassily Kandinsky’s long-awaited heir-to-be is J. Steven Manolis, whose works signal an ebullient 21st-century renaissance of the long-absent glories of Abstract Expressionism.”