Like most of my paintings I wait until they are completed before I so generously gift them with a name, which invariably changes from time to time. This recent painting was difficult to name and I didn’t want to come up with something so esoteric that it would become pretentious and confusing. As luck would have it, I was passing by the painting while it was drying on the easel and for some reason I had a dejavu of the times I used to go to Death Valley. Spent a lot of time running around in my jeep with my muse by my side. I even went so far as to secure a P.O. Box for a while. I remember it was P.O. Box 7, Death Valley, CA. one of a handful.
So what is Zabriskie Point???
Zabriskie Point is a part of Amargosa Range located in east of Death Valley in Death Valley National Park in the United States noted for its erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago — long before Death Valley came into existence.
Zabriskie Point
Zabriskie Point
Zabriskie Point DVD
Michelangelo Antonioni a movie director, writer, editor and an artist, produced a movie entitled Zabriskie Point in the 70′s. This movie had a cult following and was pretty popular. Although to this day almost no one who has seen the movie understands the point of Zabriskie Point. See movie link at the bottom.
For me the point of Zabriskie Point has become an interesting name for a gentle painting that has various shades of sherbet colors. Many of these colors are found in the landscape at Zabriskie Point as the sun sets. It may have the appearance that I allowed some colors to slide down the canvas but I actually forced them with a wallpaper glue brush. The bright pink in the background is actually lacquer paint. All the other colors are oil.
Zabriskie Point-OIl on Canvas - Rod Jones Artist
If you are in, on or around Southern California and you feel like a stealthy road trip, Death Valley, which boasts of having the lowest elevation in the U.S. and surrounded by incredible mountains it’s a fantastic place to reconnect. It’s the most visually generous place I have ever seen.
