PATTERN and PAINT

PAN!

Inspired by Nijinsky's scandalous interpretation of Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' and photographer Richard Avedon's bold nude photograph of Nijinsky's portrayer the dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

I am incorporating design aspects, namely pattern and surface more and more into my work. The abstract shapes simultaneosly evoke both the verdant environment of leaves and the lyrical movement of the dancing figure. This graphic inspriation comes from a pioneer of sorts: the naked poet (and early porn star) Gavin Dillard. A nod to Charles Doersch too.

Small clues remain to hint at theolder painting of Paris that lurks beneath this one."

The Sea Quilt

Mixed Media.

Miss Jean Brodie scoffed at a sign that reminded all, “Safety First.” To her that was ridiculous, safety didn’t come first, art or love maybe, followed by knowledge and science and then much, much later on down her list came safety. In this work, paint comes first, it is all about the paint, all different kinds of paint in fact: oil, encaustic, paint sticks, acrylic latex, and spray paint. Then comes surface, paint is applied thickly, thinly, opaquely, translucently and transparently. Paint is not only added to create a rich texture, is is also removed by scratching, scraping, and blasting it away with jets of water. Next in importance is color, a palette of blues and adjacent hues with small hot accents unify the whole piece. Lastly comes shape, namely simple squares, organize and give structure to the otherwise free form paint that is not duty bound to describe form or narrate a scene. Pretty much “Just Paint,” and safety, well, I wasn't really thinking about that at all.

Carefully collected items like dishes, silverware patterns, oriental carpets, Hamilton electric watches; these are the comforts that I surround myself with and insprire the forms in my abstract work.

*An x-ray would reveal 2 completely different paintings underneath the surface -one by a different artist."

Portraits of the contemporary composer Nathan Hall. The drawing captures his likeness and the painting, based on the drawing, seeks to capture the flavor of his music.

The Peacock Circus

My love for art nouveau silverware and dishes found its voice in paint.

There's a whole circus scene painted under this.

Abstract peacocks can be imagined facing eachother at the top, or a peacock might be found at the bottom with the majority of the design being the fanned tail, or the whole design can align with the layers of the "eye" of a peacock feather.

I also see a huge stylized Asian lion's face, and of course, very feminine erotic form.

I signed the peice in 2 corners so that it could be hung in a portrait orientation as shown or turned on one side and displayed in landscape.

A Memory of Izmir

We Are Made from Particles and Beams

Squiggles and tiny bursts of color represent the packets of energy that exist at the quantum level and the 3 egg shapes represent the particles at the at the sub-atomic level, 2 different realities that co-exist but paradoxically seem to obey different laws. Viewing the painting one can only see either the ovals or the field of strings and flashes at a given moment, but not both at the same time. Focus must shift from one to see the other.

This thick painting is built up of many many layers and the lines are actually cuts and scratches revealing surprising colors below. Photos don't do the complex surface or vivid colors justice. The title appears as a text motif on the sides.

A distinguished physics professor called me out on the title, as I knew would happen. He thought quantum field would be more accurate than "beams." But "beams' is far more poetic and implies the same thing. He countered with "rays" then. I feel beams and rays are synonyms to the lay person and stuck with the poetry of beams...