fox hunt

LeRoy Neiman Soft Art Instead of painting with a brush, the artist paints with mod acrylic fibers and yarn. Each individual soft painting is the result of the collaborative effort of LeRoy Neiman and a trained staff of professional artists. The Artist’s pallet consists of specially dyed fabrics whose colors are vibrant and translucent. Each is signed by the artist and features his personal, signed certificate of authenticity. Once Mr. Neiman has chosen the colors that are the most appropriate for the particular image, each element is outlined in yarn. Fabrics are cut by hand and arranged layer by layer in a three- dimensional fashion. Each image may have as many as 40 pieces of fabric all in different overlapping colors. This layering creates a transparency similar to that of watercolor or acrylic washes. In addition to the mod acrylic fabric, dyed yarns of various thicknesses and weights of 100% wool are used to create the more intricate lines and stripes, giving the image added dimension. Once a specific area has been completed by this layering it is secured with a small handheld needle machine. Its 800 needles safely join the swatches together. Because every step of the process is executed by hand, 4-6 weeks are required to complete a single soft painting. The resulting work of art receives the same care the artist might lavish on a single canvas. This unique process requires no weaving or knotting. LeRoy Neiman has seized the rich possibilities of this process and brought to it the dynamic strengths of his own work – color, movement, and a tangible sense of space. Throughout the process, Mr. Neiman instructs and supervises the process and creation of each painting including painting finishing touches directly onto the fabric to assure complete accuracy of the image to its original oil precedent. After the image has been approved and readied in the New York studio, it is finished with the use of 50,000 needles which secure the fabric and yarn to a linen backing. This final step gives the soft painting a smooth textural quality while retaining its brilliant transparent colors and three-dimensionality. Just like serigraphs, these pieces are created by layering color on top of color to recreate the original work except in high quality fabrics which are dyed to LeRoy Neiman’s same specific color specifications as his oils. Only a few were made of each image as they are incredible laborious to produce and so are extremely rare. LeRoy Neiman (American, 1921-2012), 1989, soft art, felted wool tapestry, published by Art Renaissance Technology, New York, NY, copyright LeRoy Neiman Inc.