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"Litter
Beach"
1995-2001
acrylic and oil on canvas 87" x 96"
currently on extended loan to
the Pritikin Museum of San Francisco
Our destruction of the planet is made worse by our
unconsciousness. This ability to filter out the ugliness we perpetrate
has been an historical and deplorable fact for as long as humans have
been casting aside their waste. But things may be changing. If we
returned to the times before bottle deposits and recycling took
profusions of glass and plastic litter off the streets and beaches, our
minds might reel in shock at the messes we used to accept as normal and
inevitable. Hopefully oil spills, acid rain, dying forests,
disappearing polar ice and accelerated extinctions will finally awaken
us to our inescapable role as stewards and caregivers to the Earth.
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"Bread
Line"
2008
acrylic on canvas
56" x 74"
The contrast between wealth and poverty, so long as
this gulf exists, should and will be an urgent subject for the visual
artist to explore just as it is for the sociologist, economist or
political scientist. Artistically, this painting has drawn inspiration
from Italian Renaissance experiments in perspective. The clean, empty
and sometimes mysterious spaces in works by Rafael, Piero and
others seemed the perfect type of background against which to place a
group of poor and hungry people.
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"Reception"
2008
acrylic on canvas
30" x 38 1/2"
This picture contrasting rich/poor, work/fun,
necessity/frivolity has a personal and autobiographical slant. Its full
title is Reception: Self Portrait with Mop. I worked, at the time I did
this painting, as a janitor for a theater company, cleaning many spills
and messes at many parties, openings and receptions. I used a style of
crisp realism inspired by the Northern Renaissance work of masters like
Van Eyck and Brueghal. |
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Dancers
Wanting Gravity
2010
acrylic on canvas
39" x 55"
It sometimes seems remarkable in a world still filled with
violence, terror, hunger and destruction that many people, especially
those from the richest countries, can dance and sing and party on as if
only happiness and pleasure exist. Is this lack of gravity in the face
of misery and suffering the best of all possible ways to point in the
direction of happiness, or are stupidly frivolous people just making
things worse?
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Movie
Line
2010
acrylic on canvas
On loan to the
Pritikin Museum
San Francisco
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Epidemic
2009
acrylic on canvas
Acquired by the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, for their permanent
collection. |
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"Students"
2006
acrylic on canvas
38" x 51"
To study the history, sociology and politics of our
species will expose the student to a panoply of horrors. But careful
study also shows human progress. There is less legal slavery, more
orderly societies living by more and more rational laws. There is more
international dialogue and greater interdependence. There are new forms
of communication that are breaking down the distances and barriers that
have always made humans into strangers to one another. There are fewer
and fewer great national wars. In the midst of the persisting horrors,
there is reason to hope a better world is emerging. The student who
wishes to make a positive contribution to the world has to hold on to
this hope and work out some way to avoid joining in the madness.
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"Candy and Guns"
2006
oil on canvas
SOLD
J. Paul Ghetto Collection
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"Recovering Bodies"
2006
acrylic on
canvas
37" x 48"
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"Rebuild"
2006
oil on canvas
40"
“Life goes on” is the theme of this picture. Some
may be so unfortunate as to suffer devastation. But the species
continues to reproduce, the sun shines and the sea abides even as we
must sometimes recover and rebuild after natural or man-made disaster.
It's good to still be alive and we know our spirits will renew and our
lives resume. This picture suggests there can also be a
“re-sorting” as a disaster might offer an opportunity to
rethink the direction of our lives. Here this couple could be sorting
stones back into same color piles or making a new pile of mixed color.
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"Rescue"
2009
acrylic on canvas
31" x 49"
SOLD |
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"Aftermath"
2004
acrylic on canvas
30" x 40"
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