THREE DANCES , 2006 50 x 120″
A three panel painting with three distinct figurative representations. At the top of each panel is a frieze of images beginning on the left with a set of hominid footprints in volcanic rock found by the Leakeys in Africa and said to be 20,000 years old. These footprints are carried into the sky through the other two panels.
On the left, panel one, is “African Dance” depicting a man dressed as a spirit in the initiation ritual for young boys. On the right of the figure is a wallpaper-like image of a stellar nursery in our galaxy that is carried through all three panels, sometimes in the background and sometimes in front. To the left of the figure are rocks with ancient images scratched into the surface.
Panel two “Ghost Dance” shows a travois with a cavalry officer’s coat. The lining cloth is from the “Ghost Dance” performed to make the army of settlers disappear. Behind the figure is an approaching group of mounted figures with guns strapped to their backs from a repeated dream. The nebula here is now background behind human concerns.
Panel three “Spanish Dance”. The figure made of sticks here has arms that are personifications of a snake and a man. The wall behind it reveals itself to be made up of old Roman Christian graveyard stones used by the Moslem invaders into Spain. The loincloth of the figure is the nebula seen in the other panels. The forbidding wall is to keep out infidels.
James H. Vredevoogd holds a BA from Michigan State University and an MFA in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art. His paintings are in the permanent collections of two museums, two universities, and various private collections. An Emeritus professor of Art at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, he taught painting, drawing, and performance Art for thirty-two years.