The Muse

After painting exclusively from life for the last ten years, I thought I would take some time and do something very different. I have painted, in oil, a species of characters that I have been doodling since high school chemistry class. I’ve used them for various cards and correspondences over the years, including our wedding invitations, setting them in various gestures and scenarios related to love and relationship.

I call them muses, though they have had a number of aliases over their lifetime, such as Tit People or Booby-eyed Creatures. The female was the original, and though she has no head, she has a quality of intelligence connected to her whole being. The male came about years later, first as a sculpture, and is a goofy little guy with a stone for a head, which he is very willing to do without from time to time.

While these creatures seem to express some gender archetypes and stereotypes, for me painting them has been about gesture and the ambiguities and humor that result from them.

I hope you enjoy this video

Peter Zambas Muses from Lynette Nutter on Vimeo.

For information about pieces available for viewing in Santa Monica, contact the James Gray Gallery