We briefly spoke about the artist Michael Godard and his charity work in a previous issue of SOUP. In this issue, we go back to talk about him some more.
Godard is known as "The Rockstar of the Art World." Being from Las Vegas, many of his pieces have something to do with gambling or drinking. He also became known as the "Olive Guy" because, in most of these paintings, he uses Olives to mimic human life. It is said that his unique brand of fun is an exciting combo of both imagination and humor. He loves to evoke the creative side in "olive" his fans (olive = all of). Because his paintings can be thought-provoking and yet odd, he and his fans have coined the phrase "Oh My God...ard!"
He has appeared on television shows such as Criss Angel's Mind Freak and Bar Rescue. His art also hangs in many celebrity's homes, including rock stars. His paintings are even in the Officer's Lounge of the Pentagon! Godard also designed guitars for the lead guitarist of Guns n' Roses. His artwork is even featured in two slot machines - Rockin Olives and Monster Boogie - that can be seen in many countries.
Now you must be wondering what do olives have to do with pirates. The most interesting thing about Godard is that while he creates a lot of olives, he will also veer off into other ideas. One of his current ideas is creating a series of 5-7 paintings for every continent featuring different animals common to that area. So far, he's done Antarctica, Africa, and Australia. For Europe, he changed up the idea to famous buildings. One thing's for certain when he does the rest of the continents; they will look amazing.
In his more recent series, he also has a series of pirate ships and sea life. Let's take a look at a few of them below.
First up, we have Mermaid Chat. In this piece, you can see strawberry mermaids hanging out under a colorful sky with a pirate ship lurking in the background. This painting really establishes his growth and how his skill with color continues to evolve.
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Next up, we have Ocean Triptych. This one probably has the least to do with pirates, but in it, you can see his traditional olives, grapes, and strawberries living it up under the sea that pirates travel. It is a spectacular nod to his past, with his olive, and his present and future bringing in more color than just relying on a black background.
Third, we are going to look at Lost in the Oceans of Love. In this, we see another glimpse of his past and future colliding. While no pirates or pirate ships appear in this image, pirates are said to have a love affair with the ocean, so feel free to pretend that a ship is lurking just beyond the visible.
We also have Firey Sea, where a pirate ship must have been caught in a gruelling battle and is currently on fire. He captures the flames so well you can almost feel the heat burning off the ship!
This one might be one of my favorite pieces of his pirate series. It is called The Kraken. This temperamental Kraken is trying so hard to smack this pirate ship and get it to sink into the icy seas below. You can see the tentacle just waiting for the right moment to strike from underneath without being seen to evoke maximum damage.
And finally, I need to leave off with one final piece, which I feel really portrays Godard's humor. Every pirate captain is not complete without their very own talking parrot. Do you think they require different parrots to go through an audition process the way Godard portrays here in Singing Audition?
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the artwork of Michael Godard. Which was your favorite?