Moonlight Drive is a painting from the Atlas & Fantin series and painted in 2013. It was shown in Miami in December of 2013 and later at Coagula Curatorial in Chinatown, Los Angeles, May 2014. As part of a larger series of collage and drippy color arrangements utilizing a counter-space motif, “Moonlight Drive’s” notable feature is the mixture and resistance of silver and gold pigment. The piece was developed and painted in my Mid City studio in Los Angeles with a few preliminary drawings and a small painted study.

Moonlight Drive was initially inspired by The Doors’ song of the same name. With its quirky rhythm and lyrical synesthesia the song captures (for me) the feeling of driving up the coast on Highway 1 at night. The canvas mimics the windy road and the vast horizon of the Pacific, drippy and cascading paint contends with the raised surface of the “counter-space” forms, directed by gravitational pull that helps define the emotional space of the painting.

At closer inspection of the surface and following the descent of the drips the viewer will find bodily formations punctuated by jeweled ornamentation and astronomical connotations. The paintings of James Ensor, Odilon Redon and Gustav Moreau are especially significant to Moonlight Drive’s ambiance; “Let’s swim to the Moon.”

jonmarc edwards, 2015

Featured Image: Moonlight Drive