The Johanson Collection: "Big Blue", by Bob Rankin

BIG BLUE (1996), BY BOB RANKIN
ACQUIRED FROM THE ARTIST, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, DECEMBER 1996 MIXED MEDIA (ACRYLIC, GEL MEDIA, OILS) ON CANVAS

		I acquired this work from Bob Rankin in December 1996, shortly before Christmas; in fact, it's the first original work I acquired from Bob. The combination of colors is really soothing to the eye, and it looks great over my television (which is exactly the same width, by a fortunate coincidence). Some folks have tried to figure out what the painting is supposed to represent... if you look closely, you may see the shape of a marlin or swordfish near the left-center of the painting. Personally, I like it just because I think it looks cool. This painting originally had no name... it was listed here as Large Untitled. When I mentioned this to Bob and told him about how some folks had seen a marlin in the painting, he suggested the name Blue Marlin. Since there used to be a restaurant in Charlotte called the Blue Marlin, I decided against this name... instead, because the painting is big and it's mostly blue, I decided to name it Big Blue. True story: This painting was too large (3' x 4') to fit in the Eclipse convertible that I owned at the time. My friend Susan Pexa was kind enough to take a day to drive up to Raleigh with me and bring the painting back in her car, which was large enough to hold the painting. Click here to return to the Collection.