Stolen Image Series 1 | Greg Latch | Original Mixed Media Painting

Original mixed media on board by Greg Latch · Painter and mixed media artist · Available at Marcolina’s Fine Arts Gallery, Tampa, Florida · Ships worldwide

A figure lies across the wide, low board in Stolen Image Series 1, head turned away so all you see is a dark cap of hair with a purple shadow along the cheek. The body is built from layers of hatching, pink and gold laid over green, violet, and blue, so the skin looks warm in one spot and bruised in another. Under and around the figure the board is loud with red and purple stripes, and behind it a dark blue and ochre field of scribbled lines carries drips of bright red and orange hanging from the top edge, with a row of black dots running along it.

The title says where the picture came from. Greg started with Tamara de Lempicka’s La Belle Rafaela, the famous 1920s painting of a reclining nude, and took the pose as his starting point. Lempicka’s version is smooth, polished, and controlled. His is the opposite: the line is rough and visible, the color is pushed too far, and the background will not sit quietly behind her.

That tension is the point. An image gets borrowed, copied, and reworked, and the question is what is left of it after you make it your own. Here what is left is the pose and the weight of the body, and everything else belongs to Greg. It is the first of three in the Stolen Image series.

Collector’s Note

At 24 by 43 inches, Stolen Image Series 1 is a wide, low piece that suits the space over a bed, a sofa, a console, or a long bench. It is one of the more approachable originals in Greg’s collection, and it works on its own or hung with the other two in the series. The layered hatching and paint have more depth in person, so we recommend a virtual viewing or a visit to see the surface.

Acquisition

Available through Marcolina’s Fine Arts Gallery with worldwide shipping, full insurance, and professional art packaging. Payment plans available. Private viewings by appointment in Tampa, Florida. Virtual viewings available for collectors anywhere in the world. Payment plans are arranged directly with Marcolina, and every inquiry is answered personally within 24 hours. Each original comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. Contact us to inquire. New to collecting? Read our collector guide →

A standard shipping rate is charged at checkout. Once your work is packed, we calculate the actual shipping cost for its size and destination. If there is a difference, we will follow up to either invoice the additional amount or refund the difference, whichever applies.

About the Artist

Greg Latch was born in Mississippi and studied acting and fine art at the University of Mississippi. He later worked as a portrait artist in Jackson Square in New Orleans, and in Tampa he spent years as a nurse in the city’s jails and a psychiatric hospital. He did not come to painting through galleries or art school. He came to it by watching people, and it shows.

For thirteen years he painted at Artist Unlimited alongside artists with master’s degrees from around the world, learned from master painter Ray Paul, and taught drawing with live models. He builds his surfaces with oils, markers, and a range of knives, layering until the canvas turns almost sculptural, and he works from spontaneous drawings and mismatched imagery.

His work sits between portraiture and abstraction, and he says himself that it is not really about the image. He was featured in the Persona exhibition at Marcolina’s Fine Arts Gallery alongside Blake Emory, Guillo Pérez 3, and Mark Rendini. He lives and works in Tampa, Florida.

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