Zodiac Queen & The Magical Silver Spoon

Sculpture anyone? Harkrader's 'Zodiac Queen' with delicate feather wings stands tall on her throne of wooden bowl, porcelain knob, metal ring, silver spoon, blue glass, glass eye and surrounded by a halo composition from an antique pastry cutter. Lion is a symbol of constellation, sign of zodiac, symbol of sun gods, Bali funeral sarcophagus and a core in Babylonian artwork. Venice, Italy is known as the “City of Lions”. Lions were used for thousands of years in mostly religious contexts of Christianity, Celtic, and Gospel of Mark. Winged lions may represent the Divine (angels) and denote strength, aggression, and power. Harkrader experimented with multiple composition possibilities before assembling this found object sculpture. (10"x6"x6")

Red is Hot! Black is Urban!

This hot red urban action floral is one of Harkrader's latest. Filled with collage of black and white alpha-numeric text, currency from Eastern Europe, clock face language, wallpaper and raised text with faux gold leaf, it is urban. The language is romantic. Love, valentine, touch, voice and other sensory language and pics; combined with the colors of red, black, gray, ochre, green, etc. fill the canvas with urban love language.

Power of Color

The colors red and black are both associated with power. Red has additional meaning such as passion, energy, war and is emotionally intense. Black can be negative in meaning but also is formal and elegant. This painting from Harkrader's 'Winged Essence' series is crisp and clear against the unsized white cotton background of drapery material. The process is totally unforgiving. You only get one chance to find your compositon and other visual language before you abandon the temptation or mistake of continuing. It is over. Let it be.