Oh, Love

Artist Nicholas Africano (American, born 1948)

Date1981

MediumWood and acrylic on masonite

DimensionsOverall: 48 3/4 × 84 × 4 1/8 inches (123.83 × 213.36 × 10.48 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Aronson

Object numberF86-58

On View

Not on view

Collections

Contemporary Art

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DescriptionGold-painted wood framing surrounds the main image. framing protrudes about 2 inches. image has monochrome dark grey back- ground (similar to a blackboard). right corner a piece of wood, about 3 inches by 1-1/2 feet is attached to the image and rests along the bottom framing edge. on the wood, half of his body is painted on the background, the other half has been build up in relief. of the grey area is written "Oh, Love. Now it's heaven, now it's hell on earth" in large, raised pink letters.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

Nicholas Africano achieved prominence as one of the New Image painters of the 1980s. Oh, Love is part of Africano's Girl of the Golden West series, a narrative cycle based on Giacomo Puccini's opera of the same name. It portrays an episode from the adventures of Minnie and the gold miners. In Oh, Love a simple, bearded man sits on a log at stage left. He gestures as he smokes, reflecting upon the nature of love. The words of his operatic soliloquy, scrawled across the top of the painting in a childlike hand, hang in the air like an old truth newly recognized, quietly touching the deepest sentiments of humanity.

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