What is an ACEO painting?

These days I am working on a curious painting subject that I have been forgotten for a long time but recently took out from the drawer to the sunlight again. Let me tell you about the origin of this project. About 10 years ago I came across a term called “ACEO", which referred to as Artist Cards, Editions, and Originals. These ACEOs are miniature size artworks that always measure 2 ½” x 3 ½” (64 x 89 mm) and they can be made of any kind of paper, canvas sheet or board that can be applied for any kind of drawing/painting mediums. ACEOs can be individual pieces of original artwork or numbered editions. This small size artwork is a rising trend amongst art buyers and collectors across the world.

My first ACEO was a self-portrait with the two parrots of Casa de Colon at the background. I used acrylic painting on paper using magnifier glass to paint carefully and it took many hours of detailed work to finish (see below pic). I decided to use this image as avatar picture of my facebook profile and I am still using it. 

"Self-portrait with two parrots", acrylic on paper,

2 ½” x 3 ½” (64 x 89 mm), 2008

Later on I created a series of ACEO clown portraits, they were about 7 pieces (see pic below). This is the painting subject that I am working on right now and see where it will take my journey of art. Currently, I am reading  about clowns and doing research about clowns in art history, too.

My ACEO artworks

I was always amazed and curious about clowns. Actually, my interest on clown subject comes from my university years. In those years, after a trip to France, I discovered clown paintings of a French painter called Bernard Buffet. He painted 100s of clown portraits and paintings. In my graduation project I had to present a copy from the modern masters, I have chosen to copy one of his clown paintings. His art was a great influence on my early career (See pic).

 

Clown portrait by Bernard Buffet

The ACEO clown portraits titled with numbers. I am planning to create more clown portraits and not only ACEOs, also in much bigger sizes. In the long run I would like to have an exhibition and also put them in a PDF e-book as well. The good news, last weekend I sold 4 ACEOs to a collector on my Ebay shop. If you wish to know about when the next auction begins please let me know (The bid starts at 1.99€). Have a great weekend!

Clown #5, watercolor on paper, 

2 ½” x 3 ½” (64 x 89 mm), 2018

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