Fascination (311)

"Fascination (311)", oil on canvas, 24x24". Sale status to be determined.

These are my young boys, Benjamin and Maxwell, playing with their toy cars. They are thoroughly absorbed in their activity, fascinated with their assortment of wheeled vehicles. In turn, my husband and I are fascinated by our sons, watching them play, grow and develop. We've heard jokes about how toy cars can take over a house with kids, and now it's starting to happen to us. It's cute and funny, but it also strikes me as a bit sinister when I think about it (and I'm always over-thinking things). Toys shape young minds. Many of us know that we need to reduce and rethink the use of so many internal combustion engines and so much oil. Our children see a culture that mostly continues to unquestioningly celebrate the overuse of gasoline and diesel powered cars and other vehicles. I included a "Mickey McQueen" (a Mickey-shaped version of Lightning McQueen from the Disney/Pixar movie "Cars") with his mouse ears sharpened into a devil's horns as an emblem of this sinister aspect of innocent little toy cars everywhere. (My Colorscape color for this painting was #311, a shade of red simply called "Devil's". It doesn't say devil's what. It's not a typo because it appears more than once in the book. Perhaps a poor translation from Japanese? My DK Family Encyclopedia topic was History of Transport.)