#Horizon definition riddle series#

The rabbit in the right-hand corner is painted in a crouching tension which probably indicates a wild thing of nature - nature being another allegiance. In the third painting, ''Expansion,'' another enormous head (this time with classic Roman features) looms behind three smaller heads, one of which displays feminine features.

#Horizon definition riddle series#

The head motif occurs in all (and carries over from a previous series of more personal imagery), but the identical head does not reappear. However, if one examines the profiles of the man and the head, one sees that they are indeed similar, and this deepens rather than solves the riddle.Ĭhapin exhibited three other paintings in this series and expects that there will be more to come. It may even be just an empty plaster head. But in Chapin's uninflected presentation, it appears neither benevolent nor malevolent.

Is it a salute, or is he shielding his gaze from, or avoiding eye contact with, the dominant head? We can be reasonably sure that the latter symbolizes the concept of a head of state. From his khaki outfit and the chevrons on his sleeve, he is clearly a soldier, but his gesture is far from clear. While the identity of each is obvious, the meaning of each is ambiguous and left open to interpretation.Ĭonsider the figure on the left. The figures and objects represent those things the artist feels are the early necessities of his society or civilization. The huge head is white and subtly modeled by a slightly greenish light, illuminating it against very dark blue-green water and a stormy sky which changes from greenish on the left to gray on the right. This size enables the viewer standing directly in front of it to accept and interact with the odd landscape, which he will find spacious, airy and rather more pleasant than otherwise. ''Allegiance'' is a large painting, measuring seven feet across and five feet high. The first of this group is titled ''Allegiance.'' But one should feel that his riddles are not necessarily to be solved, but rather to be savored. Stephen Chapin, who paints today in the SoHo artists' colony in Manhattan, presents his sense of history in a series of paintings filled with enigmas. At the other end of the scale, many of the vivid canvases of the Flemish master, Pieter Bruegel, must have teased his sixteenth-century contemporaries with their cryptographs as they baffle experts today. We become familiar with visual puzzles as though we are children tracing numbered dots to reveal a fish or flower or faces in a drawing of tree leaves and bushes. Riddles, enigmas and all things mystifying fascinate mankind and very probably have done so all through his history here on earth.