Paintings
- The paintings on this page were all made since the fire in 2011. They consist of small landscape studies, odd quasi-representational compositions, and portrait images of monkeys and other animals used as metaphors and social commentary. The portrait images are framed in eccentric frames that evoke turn-of-the-century (20th century) photographic family portraiture. This is a work in progress intended to cover a large section of a wall, much as we find family images displayed in groups on the walls of our parents and grandparents.
- The works shown toward the top of the page are far more serious. They deal with issues that relate to my personal history, displacement, and cultural identity. I'm an émigré not only geographically but also in time. One can never go home again because home was swept away with the past. All that remains is "the fading song of European civilization."
- In all my work, there is a mystical element. Nothing is ever quite as it seems. But a search in the dark recesses of the mind will discover much that is familiar. It's only the sensory noise of modern culture that keeps it hidden from view.
Arbeit Macht Frei; Image Area: 17.00" x 21.00"; Oil on Panel
For those unfamiliar with history, "Arbeit Macht Frei" was the slogan at the gate to Auschwitz, the concentration camp where Hitler had gas ovens killing innocent people on a wholesale scale (one of many such camps). Horrifying images exist where people were treated like objects. It's easy to become immune to such imagery, especially in an age of televised and video violence that makes such visual input meaningless. By using doll parts as a metaphor for human beings, perhaps a new way of seeing can be found.
I personally carry this burden throughout my life. I came out of that horror an émigré along with so many others who cannot leave that past behind. So much of my work is imbued with the residue of the ugliest century in human history.
I personally carry this burden throughout my life. I came out of that horror an émigré along with so many others who cannot leave that past behind. So much of my work is imbued with the residue of the ugliest century in human history.
Network News; 21.00" x 29.00" With Frame; Oil on Panel
The American mainstream media has little interest in providing information about the horrifying realities in the world. In Africa and parts of the Middle East, over 800 churches have been burned (mostly Coptic Christian), many with the people inside. These are real images, but the bimbo news people (male and female) prefer stories about Justin Bieber or the latest in fashion and feel-good stories. Empty their minds and fill their bellies.
Three Point One With Monkey; 26.50" x 20.50" With Frame; Oil on Panel
This is an example of what I call "representational expressionism." It isn't a reaction against but rather with and to abstract expressionism. Abstract expressionism deals with the spirit, the unconscious, and the mind. Representational expressionism deals with mundane desires stripped away to the bare essence of what it is to be human, represented by metaphoric images.
Monkey One (Sold)
Image Area: 5.00" x 7.00"
Monkey Two (Sold)
Image Area: 5.00" x 7.00"
Rainy Day
Image Area: 8.00" x 10.00"
Shrimp Man (Sold)Image Area: 11.00" x 14.00"
Landscape Study One (Sold)
Image Area: 8.00" x 9.00"
The Seeker in Darkness; Image Area: 18.00" x 24.00"; Oil on Panel
I prefer panels to canvas or linen. This painting deals with cultural and religious stereotypes. The reference is to what I call a "belief bias." A belief bias colors the perception of reality. Irrational beliefs have no basis in reality. Belief biases hide access to any real knowledge of the divine or, for that matter, of any other truth.
The Watcher in Darkness; 26.00" x 30.00" With Frame; Oil on Panel With Gold Leaf
I had considered adding two or three more frames, each larger than the last, but finances prevented me from doing so. I wanted to move outside of the limits of framed art into the world beyond. It, like the objective world, can go on forever. I wish we could live long enough to see it all.
Earth Burps
Image Area: 16.50" x 22.25"
Schongauer Deconstruction
14.00" x 16.00"
Girl at a Window; Oil on Panel With Antique Frame Mounted 2.00" in Front of the Image; 13.25" x 15.50"
A pastiche on Vermeer, this piece depends a lot on the ambient light in the room. It has two frames, the red one mounted 2.00" in front of the black one so that shadows fall onto the painted surface.
Ok, Now What?
- There's always a risk of becoming cynical when an artist evaluates the human condition. My own potential for cynicism is tempered by my love for humanity. Much of popular culture portrays humanity as monkeys grasping for shiny objects and chattering in its failure to grasp that which is really important or precious in life. I prefer to see the fragile innocence. Civilization seems to love to paint a veneer over it, whether that be in the form of wealth, beauty, aggression, or the pathetic. Stripped away, there remains only an adverbial core of what if, of why, of when, and of how.
- This is the first painting I did after the fire and the rebuilding of our home. I've only recently realized that it speaks to the desolation of an environment that no longer exists.
- The painting was designed around an eccentric frame that I found in an antique shop with some kind of crap hotel art in it. The finish was an orangey metallic mess, but the profile was really attractive to me. I refinished the frame so it would work with the content of the picture. The landscape is an almost abstract element that weighs on the lower visual elements. The monkey's mind is calmed into patient and contemplative wonder and waiting. It's the waiting that a painter endures, adding marks one at a time with no way to get to the end of the work but by completing each individual stroke. There is a detailed photo added below so you can get a better feel for the direct object of the image.
- I'm not fond of painters whose work is a performance rather than a demonstration of skill and patience, especially when the artist claims a "style." Styles are regional or temporal. Individuals should grow with age rather than falling into a stylistic crevasse from which there is no hope of escape. Dealers are bad about cramming their artists into little boxes. Better to have a job on the side for income.
The image area of this canvas is 24.00" x 36.00". With the frame, it grows to 36.00" x 48.00".
Self Portrait With Split Saint; 14.25" x 10.50"; Oil on Panel With Gold Leaf and Greek Icon That Has Been Blessed by a Greek Orthodox Priest
This was done shortly after I had a shoulder replacement (my right shoulder), which is attached to my painting arm. During my recovery, I did 50 oil pastel drawings with my left hand, mostly abstract and completely different than what my right hand is capable of.
A Memory With No One to Remember It; 11.00" x 11.50"; Oil on Panel in Antique Tabletop Frame ca. 1929
I buy these frames on the internet, and they almost always have family photos with them that have no relationship to anything outside of the family that first decided to delete it from their history. This beautiful woman deserved the time it took to do an oil portrait of her. It's made to look like an old hand-colored photograph and is an accurate representation of the original photo. So sad to see lives forgotten.
Three in Dry Air; 35.50" x 18.50" With Frame; Oil on Panel
They feed where there is no nutrition.
Untitled; Image Area: 13.00" x 17.00"; Oil on Panel
I'm not quite finished with this painting yet. At a certain point, an artist spends weeks or months considering what, if anything, needs to happen next with a piece.
A Toad for Laurie; 11.00" x 7.00"; Oil on Board
My wife took a photo with her phone that turned into this gift for her. She loves toads. (Not for Sale)
Abstract With Gold Leaf; 11.50" x 11.50" With Frame; Oil on Board
My first experiment with gold leaf.
Laurie's Mom After Ice Cream in January; Image Area: 11.00" x 15.00"; Oil on Panel
My only use ever of French Ultramarine Blue. I hate it, but it works well here. (Not for Sale)
The images below are from a recent project that is representative of the groupings of family photos found in most homes. The frames in my work are always an important part of the finished piece. Many of the new ones were made in the early 20th century. I especially like the bubble glass frames that families commissioned to preserve the shadows of loved ones either close to departing the world or freshly arrived into it. The glass replaces a final glaze, and it has an amazing effect on the completed image. I can see why families, in an age before visual technology, were so attracted to it.
The first and third images above have been sold. The central image has the feel of watercolor, although it, like all my paintings, is done in oils. Unfortunately, prints are not available for the paintings since the antique frames are such an important part of the image.
The second and third paintings above have been sold as well. And of the four below only the last three are still available.
Family Portrait #7
Image With Frame; 18.00" x 12.00"
It All Seemed So True Last Week
Image With Frame; 13.50" x 24.00"