Abstract Rock Art Styles: Petroglyphs and Pictographs/ Maidu and Other California Indian Influences/ Earth Paintings Made From Natural Pigments

The painting below utilizes net or basket-like shapes common

in the rock art of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

     Tableau of the Basket Weavers

     1998

     by Eric Whollem

     India ink and casein on paper

     Collection of the artist.

           Copyright by the artist.

INSPIRATION FROM INDIGENOUS SOURCES

Modern European artists like Paul Klee and Joan Miro

are famous for translating the preshistoric cave arts of the

continent into modern terms.

Not all such cave painting is representational of animal

life; some art was symbolic and geometric much like the

Native American rock art found in North America, for

example. In California almost all rock art was abstract.

Only in isolated instances are animals or humans

depicted.

Some of my works may include more representational

elements than a typical pictographic work by a California

Native American.

But I have taken it upon myself to do for California rock

art what the above artists did for European prehistory.

                                            *   

The painting below is loosely based on the rock art of the

Chumash of the Santa Barbara area:

The Sunboat

1981

by Eric Whollem

earth paints on panel

4'x3'

Collection of the artist

Copyright by the artist.

EARTH PAINTING WITH REAL EARTH

Some may be familiar with the work of Heizer, an archaeologist

who attempted to catalogue California's rock art tradition, which is

much less well-known than that of Utah and the Southwest.

The Chumash Indians of the Santa Barbara area left a legacy of earth

paintings in various caves, now under protective care.

The work of the Chumash stands out in California's art history as a major

accomplishment in the field of painting.

In my work, entitled, The Sunboat, I have incorporated an image of

a ribbed boat with a large circular cross in the center. Images nearly

identical to this have been found in areas as far apart as Italy and

Siberia. Jungians would say that this image is from the mental storehouse

of the collective unconscious, while diffusionists would say that the image

spread through human migration.

The roundish, ovoid forms in The Sunboat are very Chumash. The paints

utlized to create this work are natural earth pigments that I gathered and

made into artist's materials.

                                       *

The work below takes a visionary approach to pictographic abstraction:

Birds at the Crux of Night

1986

by Eric Whollem

gouache, oil stick, & wax medium on paper

9"x6"

Collection of the artist

Copyright by the artist.

RESPECT FOR TRADITIONS

Some writers interpret rock art symbolism as a sort of

sign language, that may have been intertribal.

Others see maps or other mnemomic patterns.

I have done hundreds of drawings in pictographic style,

reminiscent of California rock art. Based on these works

many  paintings have been created.

Birds at the Crux of Night derives it's stylization from a

study of California prehistory.

                                         *

The odd curvilinear lines in the work below are not

totally gratuitous, but based on rock art styles common

in the Sierra Nevada Mountains:

Constellation of the Geranium

1981

by Eric Whollem

watercolor varnished with wax on paper 

Collection of the artist.

8" x 10 1/8"

Copyright by the artist.

MAIDU INDIAN INFLUENCES ON MY ART

In the 1970's I painted many small stones with my earth

paints in pictographic style.

It is not well-known that California has more Indian rock

art than any other state in the nation. The figurative rock

art of the Southwest, so often done in glorious natural

settings, has captured the popular imagination. Perhaps

it is best that things be left well enough alone. I travelled

to Susanville with Adrian Smith, Maidu tribal leader. We

visited a rock art site that had been used for target practice.

My Maidu friend, Robert Steidl, gave me a book on

Australian aboriginal rock art years ago. He pointed out to

me the affinities of Native American rock art to that of the

tribal peoples of the land of the Southern Cross. The

California Indians, in that they did not practice much farming

due to the plentitude of nature, lived as hunters and gatherers,

much like the Australians.

                                                  *

A number of my earth paintings are held in the Lowie
Anthropology Museum in Berkeley, California. This is thanks
to the insight of the museum's curator, Frank Norick. I feel
fortunate to have been recognized by this intitution that is so
well respected. Kroeber, the famous anthropologist, gave this
museum it's impetus years ago.

                                   A video about the Concow Maidu.

Herb Puffer, who owns Pacific Western Traders in Folsom,
California, has been an important patron. He specializes in
the art of California Indians. One of my paintings that he
purchased was exhibited at the Crocker Art Museum in
Sacramento. The painting dealt with the Kuksu religion of
the Maidu Indians.

                                            *

Many interpretations can be given to rock art. It is best that

these are done with reverence. In the area of rock art, that
which is most ancient and most modern in the human psyche
meet in harmony.

See my posts on pictographs and petroglyphs on this link:

http://artblogericwhollem.blogspot.com/search/label/pictographs%20and%20petroglyphs

Pictograph Art Video                                    

Read more about the CONCOW MAIDU:
http://artblogericwhollem.blogspot.com/search/label/maidu%20indians

FIGURATIVE ABSTRACTION