Victory, Poteet (1999). Symbols of Manifest Destiny [oil and mixed media on canvas].

I see a pleasing work of non-objective abstraction. The picture plane is balanced, but the overall character of this work is characterized by uneven proportions. Cool over warm colors, rectilinear over curved shapes, global texture and horizontal elemental orientation resulting in vertical flow. |

An effective domination of interest is achieved (content) by Victory's use of contrast through proximity and complementary colors, all told in the language of texture and shape (subject). This work is built through mixed media, mostly oil, on canvas (form).  Texture presents itself over shape in this work. It is created to great effect, similar in grain throughout but with enough variation from element-to-element to support their pictorial differences. The color scheme is complementary; the axis might be "bent" slightly because the blue seems to straddle it's temperature possibilities, while the yellow is not strictly orange, but leans in that direction.

Space is decorative but built to great effect. Overlap, value, color temperature and textural detail all work in a cooperative manner to create the illusion. There is some tension centered around the primary center of interest. Beyond that, this is a naturally stable work of approximate symmetry. While the composition is unified, it is a study in unbalanced proportions. The entire painting is formatted with a pleasing texture that softens the straight, rigid edges, which in turn overwhelm curved edges. Colors are mostly pure and cool, with the perfect contrast of muddy and warm.

The bright, warm stripes of the primary element, while outnumbered, control eye movement initially, and hold it. Beyond that, elements are arranged on the picture plane horizontally, resulting in a top-down path of the eye, following the pattern created by the rectilinear shapes which are bound by treatment in texture. As a pictorial element, the canvas edge complements this calibrated motion.

Victory creates his own reality, where the interaction of the elements he chooses to use meld and play off of each other in the observer's mind. This painting is a perfect example of pleasing, unbalanced proportions, and global unification.