File:Dean Byington Oceans 2022.jpeg

Painting by Dean Byington, Oceans (Dream Painting #5) (oil on linen, 67" x 82", 2022). The image illustrates a significant later departure in Dean Byington's work in the 2020s, when he produced paintings that shifted away from the all-over compositions of earlier mixed-media paintings and collages to depict scenes of dystopias invading opulent, cinematic interiors. These paintings merged the scenery, romance and theatricality of old Hollywood movies with Cassandra-like forebodings climate-related environmental disaster. They depicted, for example, scenes of desolate landscapes and crystal-ball visions seen from an opulent drawing room, or (as in this work), rising oceans including a shark swamping a Victorian bedroom. These paintings were publicly exhibited in prominent venues, discussed in major art journals and daily press publications, and acquired by museums.

Dean Byington official website. Copyright held by the artist.

Dean Byington

Entire artwork

Yes. The image will not affect the commercial value of the original work or limit the copyright holder's rights or ability to distribute the original due to its low resolution and the general workings of the art market, which values the actual work of art. Because of the low resolution, illegal copies could not be made.

The image has contextual significance in that it serves an informational and educational purpose as the primary means of illustrating a key departure in Dean Byington's work in the 2020s: his single-scene depictions of dystopic natural forces scenes of dystopias invading opulent, cinematic interiors. They were significantly different from the densely detailed, all-over, invented outdoor universes his earlier mixed-media paintings and collages. Reviews noted this work's borrowing of abandoned scenery of old Hollywood movies (e.g., Citizen Kane) to create a visual language mingling romance and theatricality with the disastrous consequences of climate change and environmental contamination. Because the article is about an artist and his work, the omission of the image would significantly limit a reader's understanding and ability to understand this key later stage, body of work and style, which brought Byington additional recognition through exhibitions in major venues, coverage by major critics and publications and museum acquisitions. Byington's work of this type and this series, as well as this specific work, are discussed in the article and by critics cited in the article.

There is no free equivalent of this or any other of this series by Dean Byington, so the image cannot be replaced by a free image.

The image use is minimal in that a full artwork image is important to include to properly represent the art. Further, because the artist produced very distinct bodies of work in terms of aesthetic and technique, this image is required to accurately convey a significant and highly relevant period of his career and its development.