(Cleveland, Ohio, 1941 - 2011, Kent, Ohio)
2001
Oil and alkyd on panel
78 x 70 in. (198.1 x 177.8 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of the artist
2002.62
'Broken Arrow' celebrates the visual pleasures of lush colors and rich paint textures. To begin this work, Lucas brushed gesso, a chalky white paint base, over a wood panel in order to seal it. He then painted three vertical stripes of gray and filled in the remaining areas with alternating squares of red, yellow and blue. Finally, he dragged a squeegee across the wet paints so that they mixed and created new colors. A beloved and important member of the Northeast Ohio art community, Lucas was an influential teacher and mentor to many. He was an ardent supporter of the Akron Art Museum for over 40 years and served on the museum’s Accessions Committee beginning in 1999.