Juan Coronado Undertakes Commission for Miller Children's Hospital

Ariki Art member artist, Juan Coronado, will be painting a large triptych as a donation for Millers Children's Hospital in Long Beach, California. To be completed by the end of next year, the work will be auctioned off in a charity auction for the hospital.

Another exciting development for Juan recently is that we were contacted to provide a sample giclee print of his work "Lava Flow" for a business in Lebanon that supplies prints of original artworks to western hotel chains throughout the Middle East. The original work is a mere 8x10 inches, but the sample print was enlarged 7 times! The print will be exhibited in a mock up room, and if the work is chosen by any of the hotel chains for their rooms, it will be printed in a limited edition of 150.

If you are interested in giclee reproductions of Juan Coronado's artwork, or those of any other of our artists, contact us and we will work with you and the artist. Not all artists are willing to supply prints, but most are. After all, they have to eat and pay the bills too.

South African Artist Daniele van Eck Joins ArikiArt

Our latest member of ArikiArt Online Galleries is a young artist from the Johannesburg area of South Africa. Daniele van Eck paints primarily in acrylics and her works are typically abstract paintings and nudes.

Thank you for joining ArikiArt, Daniele, and we look forward to seeing your art. We have had a sneak preview of her talent, and know you will all be very impressed.

Welcome aboard, and every success in your career as an artist.

Artist Daniele van Eck's art blog

"Merci" - Painting of a Beggar by Andrea Beech

Painting of a Beggar by Andrea Beech

"Merci" is one of my favorite paintings at ArikiArt. This work by artist Andrea Beech from Havelock North in New Zealand is a painting that is full of imagery.

The subject of the painting is a beggar dressed in a long flowing gray robe that covers his entire body from head to toe. The cowl over the beggar's head is reminiscent of the robe worn by the figure of the Grim Reaper, albeit that the robe is gray, not black. I imagine that the beggar lives with death close at hand.

The beggar is asking for alms by someone not in view, however in the background is the planet Earth, positioned such that it rests in the outstretched hand of the beggar suggesting perhaps that the cry for food and water goes out to the entire world. Another interpretation of this might be a reference to the beatitude that "The meek shall inherit the earth".

A wide vertical red stripe descends the from top to bottom, through the beggar's shoulders and back, suggestive of the cross he bears and the blood of Christ flowing down the staff of the cross.
The title of the work is also a wonderful play on words: "merci" is of course the French word for "Thank You", no doubt the phrase that a beggar most wishes to utter upon receiving some gift of food or water, but of course it is also a pun on the English word "mercy", something else that the beggar no doubt wishes to receive of us.
John Corney Ariki Art Online Galleries