Title: Imagination
Artist: Monique Sakellarios
Medium and Materials: Oil on aluminum panel
Dimensions: 4" x 6"
Imagination offers collectors a luminous miniature abstract work that transforms a compact aluminum panel into a vivid field of motion, texture, and shifting color. Fluid greens, fiery corals, and reflective metallic undertones create the feeling of an interior daydream—small in scale, yet rich with energy, surface depth, and visual presence.
Description
In Imagination, Monique Sakellarios presents an expressive 4" x 6" oil abstraction on aluminum, pairing intimate scale with a striking sense of movement and luminosity. The rigid metal support changes how the oil behaves, allowing the paint to slide, pool, gather, and layer in ways that preserve the speed, pressure, and spontaneity of the artist’s hand.
Rather than following a traditional horizon or landscape structure, the composition draws the viewer into a dense, atmospheric field of color. A blooming cloud of magenta, crimson, and burnt orange gathers in the upper-left area, while pale sage, mint, olive, and slate tones cool the right side and lower ground. This contrast gives the small panel a sophisticated balance of warmth, freshness, and depth.
The work’s most distinctive feature is its sgraffito mark-making. Across the center, a sequence of clean white arches is scratched through wet oil to reveal the reflective aluminum beneath, creating a shimmering rhythm that suggests rippling water, sound waves, or rising motion. Additional calligraphic marks and combed lines along the right edge and lower foreground catch the light, giving the piece both delicacy and tactile presence.
Style and Composition
- Artistic style: Abstract Expressionism with elements of contemporary lyrical abstraction, giving the work a balance of spontaneity, atmosphere, and refined visual control.
- Composition: A vertical abstract arrangement built from overlapping fields of color and texture. High-saturation coral and red passages add warmth and intensity, while the broader sage and mint-green areas create balance, openness, and visual depth.
- Focal point: The central band of white sgraffito arcs, where exposed aluminum cuts through warm yellow and orange underlayers to draw the eye across the surface.
- Color palette: Sage, mint, and olive greens are accented by crimson, magenta, sunflower yellow, peach, and coral, creating a fresh yet expressive palette with strong decorative versatility.
- Lighting and atmosphere: Reflective aluminum and translucent oil glazes create internal luminosity, giving the work a fresh, dreamlike quality and a sense of movement that shifts with the light.
Application and Technique
- Brushwork and mark-making: Loose, physical, and varied, combining thick impasto passages, soft scumbled areas, sharp incised lines, and combed textures to create an expressive handmade surface.
- Layering and depth: Thin glazes allow the metallic substrate to show through, while heavier paint ridges project forward and catch the light, adding dimensional contrast and tactile richness.
- Tools and materials: Heavy-body oil paint on a rigid aluminum panel, with carved sgraffito lines likely made using the sharpened end of a brush handle or a similar drawing tool. The support enhances durability while preserving the piece's luminous, tactile surface quality.
Inventory Status: Available for purchase online or in the gallery.
Shipping / Pickup: Shipping is available, with items securely packaged in professional archival materials, insured, and shipped globally; complimentary local pickup is also available at our 23 North Main Street gallery.
