This is a found painting by Ruth Kratz I defaced with the word ‘COVFEFE’ and an image of a demon offering meat to the viewer. Meanwhile, the bird is ironically devouring tail-first the jocund green monster. Notice its arm thrown nonchalantly around the neck of the bird. Friends eating friends feeding friends.
Oil on acrylic on found 16” x 20” painting on panel. Acrylic was used as a base coat and a thick foundation for the googly eyes. This masterpiece is for sale for only three five thousand hundred, free shipping anywhere in the wooooooorld. I’m out.
Years ago, I wouldn’t have thought to look up the actual artist, humanize the forgotten work. Now I revisit and reprise the damage.
There is a note inscribed on the back regarding the “difference” in the tail feathers. The handwriting is horizontally stretched with long horizontal strokes, The board is on a Gimbel panel, NY, Philly, Pittsburgh distributors. I found a Ruth Kratz online that tried commercial art before getting a degree from Penn in architecture, worked as a teacher. I am looking at what will become of my own work.
This painting is probably four years old. The demon has multiple eyes and crab-like legs. I thought the demon could use a wash of bright green paint, the raw meat of covfefe needed some carbon monoxide, the bird beak needed a brighter hue and the bird, like the figure, needed a bit more definition. I added some fresh drifts of snow in the foreground, red, green, yellow, black, and white applications that took more time to mix than to apply.
The original painting is of a ruffed grouse hen painted in a bland and comprehensive flatness, as though the image from a study of a stuffed bird perched on a log in a museum awoke in the artist some sort of excitement.
Enjoy.
Fifty State Banana 