TIGERS OF THE WORLD

In this portrait of two Siberian tigers, the long shadows in the snowy foreground enhance design and movement. Coheleach painted two tigers rather than one to depict the fluid motion of the big cats. "It's like painting two or three birds in flight: you show one with the wing up and one with the wing down. The shape of one shows you what the other will be in an instant; as a result, you can almost see them moving across the canvas." In other paintings where the predator is the subject and Coheleach has not wanted to detract from it by including the prey, he has suggested the fleeing creature by clouds of dust and snow, or by feathers floating down in the air. Here he uses a variation on that technique, indicating the prey by tracks in the snow.