“Ode to the Age of Innocence”

Copyright © Edward Riojas

Among the many casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic was the cancellation of ArtPrize 2020. Just when artists had gotten used to the every-other-year format and had ignored the inconsequential in-between event, a dumb virus unleashed wholesale paranoia on just about every county fair, concert, and festival in the land. The event which drew hundreds of thousands of visitors to sidewalks and venues was doomed months before its mid-September start date. Social distancing simply could not handle those kinds of numbers.

To be fair, babysitting my piece for days on end was a sure way to come down with some kind of illness. It sometimes seemed as if I inherited the flue, cholera, typhus, and schistosomiasis all at once. Visitors like to get up close and personal with art and artists, and handshakes come with the territory. So do germs.

"Ode to the Age of Innocence."
Edward Riojas. 2020. Oil on panel.

Unfortunately, some of us artists put considerable time into our pieces, and this year was no exception. Finished pieces might be accepted in a future ArtPrize, but careful wording of the cancellation announcement gave no such certainty. Hence, I feel obliged to give a digital unveiling of my entry, “Ode to the Age of Innocence.”

This piece, of course, comes from a very different facet of my work than what some are normally accustomed. It is not a sacred piece, and it is not quite illustration. This is the fourth large installment of a ‘troll’ painting.

Like my other paintings of the same genre, it is intentionally vague, while avoiding hidden agendas, allegory, and double entendres. It is unassuming. If the viewer can suspend every urge to place meaning where there is none [including nonsensical ‘White entitlement’], then the tableau opens with child-like wonderment. Even the puzzled trolls are disarming. The figures give a vague nod to the children’s book illustrations of Scandinavia, and one senses a story, but the real intent is simple to enjoy a view through a child’s eye and hearken to former days when things were more simple. And simply imaginative.

Neither I, nor anyone else could foresee the events that would transpire the past months. The fact that our senses have been assaulted on several fronts makes this piece more refreshing than it might normally be. This is where the fine arts have massive power to transport us.

‘Ode’ not only suggests a place and time in our imaginative memory, but it also draws on associated feelings. Perhaps the viewer will smile. Perhaps the viewer will think of something from a different, but pleasant, context. The greatest achievement artists can accomplish is tricking the viewer into forgetting, if only for a moment, the problems of this sorry world, and confront instead a complex illusion made with bits of paint on a flat surface.

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Giclée prints of cover art, “Ode to the Age of Innocence,” are available from the artist. Prints are signed, and domestic shipping is included for U.S. residents. Sizes/Prices for prints:
20.5” x 36” / $160
17” x 30” / $130
13.6” x 24” / $100
10.25” x 18” / $80
To order, or for more information about this print or any other that I offer, please e-mail me at edriojasartist@gmail.com