ALDEN MASON Acrylic ABSTRACT Impasto Painting BANG Hunter Series on Canvas

Alden Mason (American/Seattle, WA, 1919 - 2013) large impasto acrylic painting on canvas.

'Bang, Hunter Series', 1986

Signed, titled, and dated on reverse 
Heavy wood and silver leaf frame measures 41 1/2" x 37 1/2", canvas measures 40" x 36 1/4"

As found on HistoryLink: One of the Northwest’s most prolific and delightful painters, Alden Mason was  influential in the Seattle art scene since the late 1940s, as an instructor at the University of Washington, an inventive stylist, and a high-profile public artist. Mason’s paintings first drew serious attention in the 1970s, with the transparent oil washes and fluid abstractions of his “Burpee Garden Series,” named for the seed catalogs of bright-colored flowers. After becoming ill from long exposures to solvent and varnish fumes, Mason switched to acrylic paint and reinvented his style, working with squeeze bottles to build patterns and stick-like figures in thick, gooey lines. In 1980 his work was selected for a project that would turn into one of Washington state’s most contentious public art debacles. Mason and university art department colleague Michael Spafford were commissioned to paint murals for the State Capitol Building, only to later have politicians decide the paintings must be removed -- after long public battles and at considerable taxpayer expense. Despite the dust-up, both artists continued their distinguished careers. In 2005, Mason was honored with a Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award. With imagery inspired by his love of bird-watching, tribal arts, and travels in Latin America and Papua New Guinea, Mason is known for the exuberance of his paintings as well as his colorful personality. Alden Mason died on February 6, 2013.

10807-56