Beauty and the Beast (Heroes, David Bowie) print Ed. 1 of 1 by Patrick Hromas

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Put quite simply, given that David Bowie almost entirely invented glam rock, together with his bizarre dress style, and his love for women in his life, the artist thinks it only fitting to paste Bowie’s head onto the body of a woman, Frankenstein style. The artist thinks he would be honoured by such a poetic portrait.

Given that Hromas is an Australian surrealist, he wanted an image of Bowie to serve as a source image for this highly experimental mixed media drawing, something he thinks Bowie would also take delight in, if he were still alive, given the multi-instrumentalist’s love of experimentation with music and his own unique style of painting! So here is represented Bowie in his Reality Tour of Australia, probably taken when Bowie was in Melbourne, even though Hromas saw him on the Sydney leg of the tour.

The arms of Bowie are from a different era, at the time of his Lodger Album, as no one has quite the same slender arms as the Thin White Duke. A fair amount of effort was taken by Hromas to present Bowie in a pleasant manner, carefully aligning the three images on Photoshop. The right side of Bowie’s face can be seen in three quarters pose, slightly from below, his left hand gently holding his mike with this arm bent, whilst his right hand clasps his (in actual fact, the woman’s right hip), his or her body partially reclined, with the delicately stockinged legs bent so the knees almost form a right angle, with the right foot (dressed in patented black three inch stilettos) slightly lower than his left. As well as wearing stockings that end halfway up the thighs, in a pretty black lace edge, s/he also wears a partially see through black lace pair of French knickers. This was quite challenging for Hromas to keep the skin tones uniform and showing through the underwear material. This might explain why at this point of painting, the artwork from the far distance to the head of Bowie, he gave up using the home made vegetable paint (in this case beetroot or carrot juice with a little preservative added). Given that it was difficult to control the consistency of this paint, bright vermilion tissue paper was glued down onto the thick paper, to represent the bright striations of clouds that cushion the figure and holds him, floating above a section of the Great Western Highway, at Warrimoo, New South Wales, Australia. The clouds in the upper half of the artwork is drawn in coloured pencil, in a mid toned cobalt with touches of cobalt and white conté, together with some lemon yellow conté lights streaking through the sky.

Patrick Hromas
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Springwood NSW, Australia, Australia

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Artwork Description

Reproduction Print on metal

Signed and numbered on the back.

Frame not included

This was my first collaged drawing from my latest series named “Heroes/Bowie”, based on and inspired by the album:

"Heroes" is the 12th studio album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 14 October 1977 by RCA Records. It was the second installment of his "Berlin Trilogy" recorded with producers Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, following Low and preceding Lodger.“
-Wikipedia

I actually had the idea for a body of work (each collaged drawing being a representation of each song) based on the album before Bowie sadly died in January 2016.

I thought that even though a lot of the songs on the album are quite abstract, as a David Bowie fan, I also think that emotionally he is talking about very concrete ideas in this album of only 10 songs. I suspect that it is one of his more accessible, and at the same time, groundbreaking albums, given it was part of the Berlin Trilogy and it was produced by the masterful Toni Visconti. It also is more stylish than “Lodger” and less obtuse than “Low”.

Given that I saw Bowie in concert when he sung for hours and seemed to be fit and confident, in Sydney in 2001 (which was an exhilarating and lively performance!), I utilised a source image of him taken on an Australian tour.

I thought he wouldn’t mind having his head placed Frankenstein-like, on the body of an attractive MILF, my own personal take on his androgynous Ziggy Stardust, slightly hungover, singing in the sky, this is often how I remember him...(hugs!)

This artwork is made for a true Bowie fan, and given its size, would make a perfect focus point or foil for a small bedroom wall, perhaps above a bedside table or nightstand?

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Medium

Waterproof, UVA proof print of 273. on stainless steel, with white backing.

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