Mitch Kolbe
Cure For Coronavirus, April 2020
Oil On Oil Primed Linen Panel
16 x 12 in
$2,400
This painting entitled “Cure For The Coronavirus” is quite a personal story, as I had vowed to give up drinking alcohol in January 2020 as part of a movement I had heard about on NPR to abstain for one month. January slid into February no problem. I didn’t miss alcohol one bit, and was surprised how easily it was for me to give up the habit. March came and I had been following the news about this virus starting to come into our country and decided to take action myself by first cancelling a workshop that I was to give toward the end of March. I went out with friends for the last time on Saturday, March 14th to celebrate my wife’s birthday, and mine, as we are only separated by six days in age. You could see people in the restaurant already eyeballing one another suspiciously. Since then, my wife and I have stayed at home. Being an artist, it wasn’t that difficult for me to stay at home anyway, as I do it all the time, painting from my home studio. I felt sorry for the rest of the people who had no clue how to work for themselves at home, and for the long lines of people I saw on the news waiting in their cars for food. I couldn’t believe this was America. This painting is dedicated to them. On April 13th, the day after that story broke, I was inspired to paint the liquor bottles that were now accumulating dust in my pantry, for one because I had never seen a still life of the ingredients that go into a cocktail and secondly because liquor bottles are just so colorful and interesting looking, not to mention the more obvious but also deeper meaning that lies in maybe imbibing during this time of fear and uncertainty. I painted them as honestly and simply as I could, striving to suggest the scene, rather than paint them literally. I painted the first cure for the coronavirus and it sold almost immediately on Facebook. This one is the third in the series and one of my favorites because I love tequila, and I love the shape and design of the bottle. Oh, and did I mention, I’m drinking again.