Popeye and Olive

Popeye and Olive was born out of an exercise in meditation through painting that Richard McGuire undertook a few years ago.By tirelessly repeating shapes on paper, with no intention other than the gesture itself, the silhouette of Popeye emerged one day. From there, McGuire decided to use E. C. Segar’s character ad infinitum, while bringing him back to his essence (muscle, a pipe and a cap), and then to do the same with Olive Oyl. Little by little, combinations took place, the shapes complemented each other and told the story of the couple’s interactions: rejection, attraction, competitiveness, tenderness... A relationship was born over the course of the drawings, and it is now an abstract love story.