Hogarth’s People

oil on birch panel

Florida friends were enjoying their drinks at a pool party. Fenton could not help but notice the similarity of the folks imbibing to William Hogarth’s third painting in the series “The Rake’s Progress.” The placement of Hogarth’s scathing depiction of Thomas Rakewell as he squanders his inheritance was humorously superimposed on the drinking Floridians, creating a curious relationship between the eighteenth-century folks and the frolicking Floridians.

Larry and Carl

oil and oxidized silver leaf on birch panel

A fisherman holding his catch is a ubiquitous photographic image. Fenton chose to paint the subject to create something unique from the most banal of images. His use of metal leaf suggests something regal or religious . . . or possibly both. Using trompe l’oeil, Fenton paints taped negative photographs of fishermen as if he were painting from those negatives.