Odds

ODDS (Diptych)
Medium: Oil on canvas + vintage collage on panel
Size: 22" × 28" (oil painting) + 8" × 10" (collage study)
Year: 2024
Series: "Find the Differences" (RAM Retrospective, 2026)
Status: Available
Investment: $7,500
 
The Story
This is the second piece in the series that began with ADRIFT—the body of work born from constraint, necessity, and 3,000 miles of American highways.
 
After leaving Maui and driving cross-country to Indiana, we arrived with no studio, no supplies, no projector. Just a basic art kit and a stack of vintage magazines collected from junk shops and flea markets along the way.
 
The process remained the same: Create a collage study from found materials. Then paint a freehand interpretation—no projector, no sketch, no grid. Just observation, instinct, and oil paint.
 
This is piece #2.
 
The Work
 
ODDS is a diptych—two pieces meant to be displayed together.
 
The collage study (8x10") uses re-arranged vintage magazine elements: runners on a track, bold red typography, a woman in sunglasses on a beach. The visual language of mid-century advertising—aspirational, colorful, seductive.
 
The oil painting (22x28") is a freehand interpretation, scaled up nearly 3× through observation alone. No mechanical aids. Just eyes and brush.
 
But here's the hidden layer: The two pieces form a visual puzzle. Look closely and you'll find the alteration. In the original collage, the runners' team names are visible. In the painting, I've changed them to create a new phrase:
 
"Simple never fades."
 
It's a statement about the work itself. These vintage magazines—destined for landfills, forgotten in dusty boxes—were simple in their original context. Tourist brochures. Sports photography. Mass-produced ephemera.
 
But their simplicity doesn't fade. Decades later, they carry emotional weight, visual power, nostalgic resonance. Transformed into art, they're reborn.
 
The Framework
Like all pieces in this series, ODDS follows strict design principles:
 
The Law of Three: Three main compositional elements (runners, Mexico text, woman).
 
The Billboard-to-Library Strategy:
20-foot hook: Bold red typography, immediate visual impact
6-foot strike: Figures emerge, narrative takes shape
1-inch whisper: Fine brushwork reveals hidden details
 
The result: work that functions at multiple scales, rewarding both distant viewing and close examination.
 
The Series
 
ODDS is the second piece in a body of work anchoring my Richmond Art Museum retrospective (June 2026). As the series progresses, the paintings grow larger, the synchronicities deepen, and the hidden puzzles become more complex.
From here, it only expands.
 
Acquisition
 
Investment: $7,500 (both pieces included—diptych must remain together)
Payment plans available: 3-6 months, zero interest
Example: $1,250/month × 6 months
Shipping: Professional art logistics, fully insured (additional cost)
Certificate of authenticity: Included for both pieces
Custom framing upon request: (additional cost)
 
This is conceptual work rooted in nostalgia, transformation, and the refusal of "simple" things to fade away. It's 1970s Mexico reborn as contemporary fine art. It's the Hero's Journey applied to mass-produced magazines—rescued, reimagined, and destined for museum walls.
 
If ADRIFT resonated with you but the timing wasn't right, this is your second chance.
 
Inquiries: yes@justinkaneelder.com