The winner of this package will receive a hand-signed lithograph of Words by Ronald Vance by artist George Deem.

Print is numbered by artist 91/300. Image with white border measures approximately 24" x 21.5"; actual image measures approximately 20.5" x 17.5".

George Deem (1932-2008) is a leading painter among contemporary artists using the technique and the images of the old Masters. Deem encourages and expects the viewer to be aware of the original source of his subject. Their knowledge and familiarity with the subject will extenuate the viewers perception of his deliberate restyling. The trend in Deem's paintings is away from the elaborate symbolic apparatus and towards reduced, less obvious cleverly disguised symbol- ism. 

    Deems' paintings are more than allegorical as they imply some warning or moral purpose for his contemporary viewers. Deem has taken to using Vermeer's images not for purely aesthetic ends alone, but to illustrate in 1979 how the meaning attached to these traditions has dropped away. What remains is ample evidence of Deems' wish to be "read" as metaphorical and even arcane through his use of the traditional. For example, Deem has used Stuart's portrait of Washington and added white face taking a deadly humorous and political stance in attacking our aesthetic and moral values. 

     Deems work has, for the intellectually curious, allusions, puzzles and hidden meanings that are used to make all sorts of jokes and puns on contemporary and traditional concepts of imagery. Deem has manipulated these aspects to delight the nimble mind and has created an image of significance to survive and help secure his fame. Many artists currently using masterpieces as direct models in their work employ a blatantly contemporary technique and medium. Deem retains a stylistic interest in the painting techniques and medium of the Old Masters. Working in oil, with a dead- pan and skillful "trompe l'oeil" he exhibits great technical expertise in seemingly painting in the old manner