Farmer by David Cutrell

David Cutrell. Detail of Farmer, ca. 1990. Acrylic on canvas board. 20 x 16 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Olive drab skin, vibrant eyes with blue and red yokes: a large spirit with a pitchfork face looms over the left side of this acrylic painting. On the opposite edge, a curving palm tree fames a dark blue sky. The center of the painting is held by a peasant hoeing a green field. He is slim with long red feet. Coopery skin, brown shins; purple shorts and a long-sleeve salmon-colored top. He balances atop a ‘Pakèt Kongo,’ a round, reddish object meant to hold powerful ingredients. The pakèt seems to be in motion as a gray and pink cross twirl inside it. The bottom of the painting connects all of the painting’s elements. The hoe carves out a streak of brown soil, casting an eerie shadow. From it black roots and a black cross emerge, along with brown brush strokes that lead us back to the olive spirit.