The Creation of Rainbows 1988

Boris Vallejo painted 'The Creation of Rainbows' at an unknown date with I’m guessing oil on canvas, judging by the sheen and blend-y effects. The palette is all muted browns and grays, fleshy pinks, and then BAM! a rainbow springs forth. Looking at the texture, you can almost feel the slickness of the bodies, like a really intense airbrush tan. The figures cascade into each other, it feels like you could slide right off. That kneeling figure in the foreground, reaching up… the paint there looks so creamy, like Vallejo sculpted the muscles. And the way the rainbow curves, it makes me think of a halo. This feels so close, in a weird way, to the idealized forms of someone like William Blake, only if Blake was a body builder. And the whole scene is like a fever dream. You know? There’s something so earnest, so unironic about it. It really commits. That’s painting for you!