Not sure if you noticed, but sometimes many artist paint the same painting multiple times. I have read that some great artist, like Robert Motherwell did this because he still felt he had to work it out, that earlier versions were maybe “not it” – was quoted saying “maybe now looking back, it could have been an earlier painting that was it”… Artist like Vincent Van Gogh painted the same painting multiple times to give one to his friend and brother but liked it enough to keep one for himself.

For me personally, this happens for several reasons.

1. I notice an older painting and take a renewed interest in it and paint another version of it with a fresh look at the original.
2. I feel that if I sell it (haha) that I might regret not having it around, so I paint another exactly like it (or as close as I can)
3. I want to share it with friends and/or family and (like Van Gogh) want to have one too
4. I looked at the original and something bugs me and I take another shot at it (like Motherwell, maybe the original was it?)
5. I have a wild idea that maybe a museum would want the painting and paint it larger to be more in line with the works in a museum.

The second and the last reason above is the reason is the reason for painting the theme of Ruby shooting Oswald again and again. I stuck with the original theme which was to mix Pablo Picasso’s Painting of Guernica (black and white with a little brown) with a still from the television footage (black and white) of Ruby shooting Oswald on live television. Both the painting and the images of the 60s event seemed to have something deeply in common, something that has not changed since men have been on earth – a propensity towards violence to gain power over another person or group of persons…

Maybe I paint paintings multiple times because… I can?

Chris Cook