Abstract Coastal Scene

Harold Graves (20thc American, Massachusetts Artist)

This 20.125 inch x 18 inch painting is by the artist Harold Graves. The painting, framed in unadorned wood, presents an abstract landscape that defies naturalistic representation. The color palette mainly consists of different shades of blue with hints of warmer colors like pink, red, and orange, consolidated in the lower half of the work. The canvas is divided into two distinct halves: the atmospheric expanse above and the landscape terrain below. The various shades of blue dominate the upper section, creating an ethereal sky. Hints of red and streaks of black suggest a storm or heaviness within the sky. The brushwork is somewhat spontaneous, capturing the energetic atmosphere.
Within the lower section, a disarrayed and chaotic landscape expands across the bottom edge of the work. Shapes and objects scatter, with the majority of their forms being somewhat ambiguous while a few slightly discernible objects are also incorporated among the dense landscape. One shape could very well be a fridge with an open door, seen emerging from the bottom edge in the center of the terrain, while another distant shape is representative of an airplane, positioned in the back of the chaotic scape and emerging from the right hand side of the composition with just one wing visible, the airplane's nose and pilot windows. Positioned in the foreground of the plane, there is a shape that is reminiscent of a tire, very small and dark grey in color.

There is not much information on Harold Graves, although we know that he was actively painting during the 20th century and is from Massachusetts.