Quanah Parker Buffalo Icon #1

The demise and extinction of the Buffalo, which was the vital source of food, housing, clothing, and basically life for the Comanche Nation for hundreds of years, is the subject of this current painting.  As the white settlers began to encroach upon the native territory, they exploited that resource, slaughtering untold numbers of these Lords of the Prairie and shipping the bones back East by train, for commercial use as fertilizer.  This current painting addresses this reoccurring theme in my work. The colors, imagery, and motif are all orchestrated to evoke the spiritual nature of the subject and to give the painting expression a surreal, otherworldly feel.

The painting is 48”x48” and is Acrylic painted on 120-year-old, handwritten deeds, glued to canvas, from Parker County, Texas.  It is significant that Parker County was named after Isaac Parker, the Chief’s mother, Cynthia Ann Parker’s uncle.  These deeds conveyed Land once controlled by the Comanches.  In this most recent work, parts of the picture plane reveal the historic documents, and these actual relics from the time period of the event have become an important part of the artwork both visually and symbolically.