File:Kara Maria The Sea, The Sky, The You and I (blue whale) 2021.jpg

Painting by Kara Maria, The Sea, The Sky, The You and I, (blue whale) (acrylic on canvas, 26" x 26", 2021). The image illustrates a key mature body of work by Kara Maria beginning in the mid-2010s when she produced vivid, multi-layered paintings fusing mark-making with Pop art strategies—including realistic depictions of lone endangered-species animal—to comments on ecological collapse and diminishing biodiversity.. These works have been likened to cheerfully apocalyptic requiems, scenes of catastrophic disarray or polemics arguing against the notion that life can exist apart from or outside of nature. impending animal death In this work, a whale floats on a tie-dye-like backdrop suggesting the depths of the ocean, but showered with fireworks-like, Op art-ish blue, purple and magenta dots. These paintings were publicly exhibited in prominent venues, discussed in major art journals and daily press publications, and collected by art museums.

Artist Kara Maria. Copyright held by the artist.

Kara Maria

Entire artwork

Yes

The image serves an informational and educational purpose as the primary means of illustrating a key mature body of work by Kara Maria beginning in the mid-2010s: her vivid, multi-layered paintings fusing a wide range of abstract mark-making with Pop art strategies of realism, comic-book forms and appropriation, which examine issues such as ecological collapse and diminishing biodiversity. These paintings most often consist of miniature, Audubon-like depictions of lone endangered-species animals from around the world (e.g., the polar bear, tarsier, honey bees or whooping cranes), barely visible amid brightly colored, frenetic abstract landscapes of painterly gesture, Pop Art motifs and action-comic iconography. Because the article is about an artist and her work, the omission of the image would significantly limit a reader's understanding and ability to understand this key developmental stage and body of work, which brought Maria initial recognition through exhibitions in major venues, coverage by major critics and publications. Maria's work of this type and this series, as well as this specific work, are discussed in the article and by critics cited in the article.

There is no free equivalent of this or any other of this series by Kara Maria, so the image cannot be replaced by a free image.

The image will not affect the value of the original work or limit the copyright holder's rights or ability to distribute the original due to its low resolution and the general workings of the art market, which values the actual work of art. Because of the low resolution, illegal copies could not be made.