48" x 60” 2020 Oil on Board
In early 2020, two Giant Pandas (Ying Ying and Le Le) in a Hong Kong zoo, mated naturally for the first time in a decade. It was theorized that the lack of crowds due to the Pandemic was conducive to their mating. In my rendering, they are mating in a field of thistle with Coronavirus “flower buds”.
This is the second painting in a series that I am doing, documenting the course of the Pandemic.
My first painting, at the very start, was a bleak message about social isolation, fear and hoarding-with a somber palette and little detail. This second painting, with its bright colors and whimsy, was an attempt to see a ray of hope for possibly a small resurgence of nature during humankind’s diminished presence during world wide shutdowns. At this juncture of the outbreak (April/May) when deaths were escalating, there was fear that hospitals would be overwhelmed and the advice of scientists and public officials was that social isolation and economic shutdown was necessary to “flatten the curve”. I opted for a little levity.
Pandamonium:
