These are miscellaneous paintings I created over the years that are not associated with any show and are a bit harder to categorize. They are shown in roughly reverse chronological order.
These pieces are based on photos I shot near Bray's Bayou at dusk. Shooting in low light caused the images to blur.
I so loved the effect I made these pieces, which are symbolic of the passage of time.
Original paintings SOLD
This piece was inspired by the words of a song by Jewel "I hid my soiled hands behind my back" which also brings to mind the words from
a Bob Dylan song "His clothes are dirty, but his hands are clean." For this work I chose as a subject a young woman wearing a white dress,
which enhances the innocence and hieghtens the contrast of the soiled hands.
Original painting SOLD
I based this painting on a photo I shot in India over twenty years ago.
This photo has haunted me for those many years. I was appalled at the level of poverty
and hopelessness which characterized the lives of so many people in that country.
I had never experienced anything like it and can only hope that the problem has improved
with the passing of time. As I photographed this family at the well, they took notice of me,
which is why they look out from the painting. There is a certain accusation in their look
(or I project that it is there) which provokes shame - the invasion of their privacy, the
callousness of the tourist, and the discrepancy in our economic status brought about by the
sheer luck of the place of my birth. How easy that our situations could have been reversed.
Original painting SOLD
A very common site these days is a young person absorebed in the ubiqutous cell phone.
This particular piece is based on a photo I shot in a mall in Hong Kong. I am particularly
fond of the subtle reflections in the glossy wall of the surrounding people to which the young
woman is oblivious.
Original painting SOLD
Based on a photo I shot in Hong Kong, this painting uses a very limied palette.
The man in the foreground is oblivious to the newly married couple posing
for their photographs. I find the contrast between the figures striking,
which is furthered by the sensuality of the woman.
Original painting SOLD
How to summarize the life of a man in one image? All I could do was collect snapshots of his life,
concentrating on the man I never knew: the young Army Air Corp cadet, full of hope and promise and
soon to be working on B-24’s during the war in the Pacific; the working man enjoying a nap or day off;
the father; the husband; the mechanic. On the right is the man I knew (as well as I could) looking back,
content with his simple life – as he once put it. I chose the center image as the focus because it just
seemed to match his character – the enjoyment of simple pleasures.
I suspect we all wonder what paradise would look like - how we would like to spend forever. For my father,
heaven would be a youthful, warm summer day with a good smoke and a cold beer.
May he have an eternity
of such days.
Accepted into the Visual Arts Alliance Show, Houston, TX, May, 2012
Original painting NFS
The Beneficiaries
is a tribute to the men of the Twentieth Century who fought
and sacrificed to preserve freedom and destroy tyranny.
These images are based upon photographs from World War Two,
some of which have been manipulated so that all the fighting
men move to the right and wounded to the left. The arrangement
leads the eye from the lower left of the piece to the upper right,
where a contemporary mother and child play peacefully in a field
of flowers, beneficiaries of a precious gift.
Original painting $500
America I shows a typical level of social interaction:
people alone watching television. Each box is identical to the next.
Also, each has the same aspect ratio as a television (1.333:1) as does the picture
as a whole. The black between the boxes adds to the sense of isolation.
Original Painting $500
America II is a more grim view. Here the red symbolizes
violence. The people watch it on television, presumably as entertainment,
while it occurs next door to them, as symbolized by the red square.
Original Painting $500
Homage to Kinkade is a tribute to the
very well know artist. Kinkade's work is everywhere, demonstrating
the power of his marketing strategy and the commercial nature of
his art. These facts are symbolized by painting a copy of his
work directly onto money, thus showing how art can be converted
into cash.
Original painting SOLD