CALIFORNIA PICTOGRAPHY
1984
by Eric Whollem
wax emulsion on paper
Collection of the artist
10" x 8"
COPYRIGHT BY THE ARTIST
AN ARTISTIC TRIBUTE TO THE PREHISTORIC PETROGLYPHS OF CALIFORNIA
This work is based on my studies of pictographs and petroglyphs from
preshistoric California. I have visited a number of sites in California
where such images appear on the native stone: the Petroglyph Section
in Siskiyou County, high Sierra rock art in Plumas County near Long
Lake, at a site in the desert near Susanville, and at Milsap Bar along
the Middle Fork of the Feather River in Butte County.
Most of the pictographs in California are abstract in character. One
finds more representational images in the Eastern Sierras, where
the Great Basin Style with it's long horned sheep images proliferate.
The painted pictographs of the Chumash and Modoc Indians especially
have intrigued me insofar as I have made paints from raw earth pigments
since 1973. The Concow Maidu Indian culture has greatly influenced the
subject matter of much of my art.
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See my posts on EARTH PAINTS:
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
PAINTED STONES
by Eric Whollem
photo copyright by the artist
THE VIDEO BELOW
EXAMINES MY
APPROACHES TO
PICTOGRAPHIC ABSTRACTION
ERIC WHOLLEM
Readers may want to explore my posts on PICTOGRAPHS:
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