What Remains

I've been working on stain paintings for a while now. Kind of reminds of me of Phillip Roth. These paintings are about process; commit to a moment and work with what you get until a beauty is achieved. Thankfully they've turned out pretty well. 

Burning Bright

"The Road to Menerbes"
48" x 72"
Mixed Media on Canvas
(Sale Pending)

Another in a series of paintings aimed at creating an atmosphere and defy the eye's ability to view this piece as having any singular perspective. In these paintings I am encouraging the viewer to find the Spiritual within.

The Unlaid Plans

Tiger, Tiger
36" x 28"
Mixed Media on Canvas

The Fearful Symmetry #1 of 3
60" x 48"
Mixed Media on Canvas

The Fearful Symmetry #2 of 3
60" x 48"
Mixed Media on Canvas

The Fearful Symmetry #3 of 3
60" x 48"
Mixed Media on Canvas

All of the pieces above are part of a new effort to work in ways that produce results which cannot be planned. Choices are made in terms of color, but the results are not predictable.

More Sky

A study for a large scale piece. I am increasingly drawn to landscapes, snowy ones at that. Low light. Small features. There is more space than actual matter.

"More Space"

Acrylic and Graphite on Canvas
48" x 48"

"Adrift"
Acrylic and Coffee on Canvas
48" x 48"

A friend recently gave me some information on the great German Painter Anselm Kiefer. His work deals with struggles of conscience and the reconciliation of one's individual self with a the collective past. Though I never plan to do so, making pictures of this type- on inspection after the fact- seems to relate to my past and working through fear. I don't want to get too precious about it, but paintings can be seen- per Rothko and many others- as snapshots of states and colors as feelings. The above two pieces both represent those issues and create them simultaneously.

Dental Work

Dental Work #12 Chalk on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

Dental Work #13 Chalk on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

Dental Work #14 Chalk on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

Teeth that glow white scare me. Faintly blue and opaque, they seem even more like appliances than natural body parts. And it is that feeling which informs my fascination with them. My sketchbooks and doodles are often filled with molars and incisors. The commoditization of the flesh is the subject of a lot of my work.

Fields of Color

Fending For Myself Oil and on Canvas 60" x 78"
(SOLD)

Tibetan Spring Oil on Canvas 60" x 78"
(SOLD)

What I Remember Acrylic on Canvas 48" x 32"
(AVAILABLE)

Sometime in the Spring Acrylic on Canvas 48" x 32"

(SOLD)

Whenever I do, or look at a color field painting, it ends up feeling like a landscape. And then the picture goes on from there to take up other associations. Things, as I said before, exist above and below the line. In and out of consciousness. Color peek through from below and disturb the surface. Some of the colors work, others do not. Cool on warm. Warm on cool. It's a gamble.

Covering Up

Untitled Acrylic and Graphite on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

Untitled Acrylic and Graphite on Paper 22" x 28"
(AVAILABLE)

Untitled Acrylic and Graphite on Paper 28" x 22"

(AVAILABLE)

Untitled Acrylic and Graphite on Paper 22" x 28"

(AVAILABLE)

Untitled Acrylic and Graphite on Paper 22" x 28"

(AVAILABLE)

I like to revise, cancel and cross things out. I like to hide the intersection of things, the place where aspects of an image come together figuratively or literally. Big, obvious swatches suggest difficulty and highlight the process of discovery. A painting that doesn't ask you to come back again and again- to work through it- is not done yet. Instead of adding things, though, I like to cover things up.

Goggles and Chalk

Circle Sun #1 Acrylic and Chalk on Paper 22" x 14"
(AVAILABLE)

Circle Sun #2 Acrylic and Chalk on Paper 22" x 14"

Circle Sun #3 Acrylic and Chalk on Paper 22" x 14"

Circle Sun #4 Acrylic and Ckalk on Paper 22" x 14"
(AVAILABLE)

Goggles Twice Acrylic on Paper 7" x 3#
(AVAILABLE)

Angels You Didn't Know About Ink and Chalk on Paper 18" x 12"
(AVIALABLE)

Sometimes I will do a simultaneous series, meaning four or five pieces executed along the same lines and done quickly. #1 relates to the others on tangentially, but is part of the series just the same. Theme and variation taken further. More Angels will be posted later. I do them quickly, too.

Snowscapes

River Road Acrylic on Canvas 72" x 86"

Lone Pines Acrylic on Canvas 48" x 48"

I am always working on a landscape like the one's above, snowy and barren. These paintings, though, are full of washes of vibrant colors like rose and purple. Opposites that work well together.

Below the Line

Untitled #11 Oil on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

Untitled #22 Acrylic on Paper 20" x 14"

(AVAILABLE)

Untitled #12 Acrylic and Graphite on Paper 14" x 8"
(AVAILABLE)

Untitled #13 Acrylic and Graphite on Paper 14" x 8"
(AVAILABLE)

Blue Sky Dirt Farm Pastel on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

Grey #2 Acrylic on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

Faded Blues Acrylic on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

A lot of my abstract work deals with horizons and/or distance. There is something below the surface - below the line - and it's trying to come to the fore. Either that, or it's fading away. Maybe both. This theme or idea surfaces again and again.

The Body and Its Uses

Front Teeth #2 Acrylic in Canvas 48"x 32"
(AVAILABLE)

What You Lose Acrylic on Canvas 48" x 36"
(AVAILABLE)

Adjustable Heads Spray Paint and Graphite on Paper 22" x 28"
(AVAILABLE)

Fluidity #1 Oil and Pastel on Paper 28" x 22"
(AVAILABLE)

Prime Rose Acrylic and Cutout on Paper 12" x 8"
(AVAILABLE)

There are lots more where these came from. These are examples from some of the themes and ideas I have been exploring: Anatomy, Decay, Objectification and Perfection. In our world, the body is ubiquitously seen as just another venue for the struggle between Commerce and Authenticity.

Automatic Ink

4 panels, Ink on Paper, 12" x 9"
(AVAILABLE)

Ink and Pastel on Paper, 24" x 18"
(AVAILABLE)

Intrigued by Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, I put a brush on some paper and saw where it took me. The pastel- red and green- just seemed like it needed to be there. In my opinion, process and negative space are as important as surface and content. A work of art is a thing that exists through time, not in one place or moment.