Description
‘Oberfränggische Giegelakatze’ by Thomas A. Gieseke
Artist: Thomas A. Gieseke
Title: ‘Oberfränggische Giegelakatze’
Medium: Acrylic on Panel
Dimensions: 5” x 7”
Framing: Framed (Frame Size: 10” x 12”)
Year of Creation: 2018
About the Artwork:
“First of all, I would like to announce that my son Andrew got married to a beautiful, young woman Jessica last weekend. As such, my wife’s brother and sister and their respective spouses came for the wedding from the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria where they live. I love to walk through nature, they love to walk through nature, so we did that the other day. I get much of my inspiration for my paintings from these walks. On my last walk with them, I also got my inspiration from *them*. More than anything, I am intrigued with their dialect of German. I find it very colorful and charming.
Consequently, this image and the name for it just sort of popped into my head. Giegela is their word for chicken and Katze is the German word for cat. There you have it; ‘The Upper Franconian Chicken Cat’. I made the familiar Amanita muscaria mushrooms prominent because the colors of the Franconian flag are red and white.” – Thomas Gieseke
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Thomas Gieseke was born 1952 in Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kansas. That time growing up has defined much of what he does in his art. Basil Wolverton, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, Salvador Dali were some of his early influences. Gieseke is self-taught and has been self-teaching ever since. He has had no real formal art training.
Gieseke was a professional illustrator for over 40 years. His illustrations have appeared in countless advertisements, greeting cards, posters, and magazines. His work has garnered numerous awards. The techniques he utilizes in his paintings comes directly from the skills he acquired as an illustrator over that period.