Blue Tidal Wave (Grande vague Bleue)
June Wayne
72 x 54 in. (182,9 x 137,2 cm)
Acrylic on paper marouflaged onto canvas with gesso and gelatin.
Edition of 15, 1972.
SELECTED EXHIBITION
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery,1973.
COMMENTS
June Wayne understood, as Marshall McLuhan articulated, that the medium could not be separated from the message or its impact on the viewer. The tactile nature of tapestry appealed to her “No matter how farfetched the vision, materials themselves are important in their “is-ness’; their organic given nature reveals and contributes to the whole."
Wayne bridled at the notion, however, that her water themed works were Asian inspired, contemporary versions of Hokusai or other Japanese masters. "The Pacific Ocean has two coasts… You do anything with water and people think it comes from Japan. It’s a built in assumption. Not so much with China… Water is a very difficult subject to make convincing in graphics or painting. (smiling) I stake territorial claim since I’m in California. This part of the Pacific belongs to me." (June Wayne, from a video conversation in her Tamarind / Hollywood studio, 2009).
In her 1976 tapestry “Grande Vague Bleue” and companion piece “Grand Vague Noir", Wayne revisited the waves of her painting and lithographs, conveying astonishing dimensionality and power in the textile medium.
