**Originally Listed At $400**

Damian Gomes (American, active 21st century). "Soldier" oil on board, 2018. Signed and dated on verso. A moody yet colorful neo-expressionist painting by the self-taught abstract figurative artist Damian Gomes, depicting a bust-length portrait of a male soldier in profile. Evocative of a colonial era explorer-soldier, the figure wears a helmet that is reminiscent of the European Cabasset or Morion, the stiff collar ruff suggestive of the Elizabethan age. The loose brushstrokes are superimposed over a varied range of hues with bright pink highlights throughout. Gomes' work unfolds in an organic process that has a spiritual quality, inspired by the religious works of old masters. Size: 11.25" L x 8.5" W (28.6 cm x 21.6 cm); frame: 14.5" L x 11.75" W (36.8 cm x 29.8 cm)

Artist Statement: "Damian Gomes is a self-taught abstract figurative painter working primarily in oil and acrylic. With references to surrealism, Gomes' wildly gestural neo-expressionist forms explore themes of life and death, socio-cultural phenomena, and other existential questions. Frequently macabre, sensual, and darkly comic human images figure prominently into Gomes' work. The journey from the sublime to the absurd is populated by religious and profane characters, and rendered in an introspective, self-effacing style. 'What the completed painting says is sometimes the answer to a question I hadn't yet asked.'"

Provenance: ex-private Bishop Family Trust collection, the Trust of the late Bill Bishop, a noted antiquarian with shops in Scottsdale, Arizona and Allenspark, Colorado, USA, acquired before 2010

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#173752

Signed and dated on the verso. Mounted in a wood frame - a few scuffs to wood surface, otherwise excellent. Fitted with suspension wire and ready to display.