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I hadn’t included the figure in my paintings for over a decade, choosing to explore pure abstraction through color and form. Then came the wrenching events of 2020. Each day seemed to usher in a series of attacks – viral, racial, political – targeting bodies both individual and collective. On floating squares of color, cropped figures interact with abstract patterns which represent interrupted systems. In yoga philosophy the lower torso corresponds to the first three chakras which broadly address safety, creative expression, and the power of transformation.
Tracks, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Six of Cups, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Orange Crush, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Lifeguard, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Taking Off, 2020, oil on panel, 24’’ x 24’’
Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Horizon, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Boy Banned, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Trapeze, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Your Body, My Ocean, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Forecast, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Aperture, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Electric, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Broadway Trunks, 2020, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
How does an inner logic emerge from an intuitive process? Each of these paintings reflects that undertaking. Making a painting is an opportunity for some sort of adventure to take hold. I am interested in the way shapes emerge and dissolve, seem just right or not right at all. I am also keen on using as much color as I can and resolving clashing or unusual color pairings. It is an unpredictable process, yet when the paintings wear their architecture lightly and breathe with their surroundings the final image bears the stamp of inevitability.
Torpedo Carousel, 2019, oil on panel, 8” x 8”
Splash, 2019, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Red Brick Wave, 2020, oil on panel, 20” x 20”
Falling Formation, 2020, oil on panel, 12” x 36”
Cumuli, 2020, oil on panel, 12”x 12”
Flight, 2020, oil on panel, 20” x 20”
Power Surge, 2019, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Crawl, 2020, oil on panel, 20” x 20”
Crosscurrents, 2020, oil on panel, 20” x 20”
Cloud Function, 2019, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Bunk Bed Bazaar, 2020, Oil on Panel, 20” x 20”
Crane, 2017, oil on panel, 18” x 18”
Aftereffects, 2017, oil on panel, 18” x 18”
Alive, 2017, oil on panel, 18” x 18”
Pack a Day, 2017, oil on panel, 18” x 18”
Pink Compression, 2017, oil on panel, 18” x 18”
Twin, 2013, oil on panel, 6” x 8”
Firmament, 2015, oil on panel, 12” x 12”
Trove, 2015, oil on panel, 12” x 12”
Round and Around, 2015, oil on panel, 8” x 8”
Venery, 2015, oil on panel, 12” x 12”
Around the Corner, 2015, oil on panel, 8” x 8”
Saltation, 2015, oil on panel, 12” x 12”
Orison, 2015, oil on panel, 12” x 12”
The Seventh, 2014, oil on panel, 8” x 8”
I am interested in the element of water, both as a source of renewal and as a source of danger. These paintings depict opposing forces – the combination of vulnerability and invincibility of the babies, and the precarious quality of the safety afforded by the containers set against the vastness of the ocean.
Calming the Ocean, 2007, oil on panel, 7" x 6.5"
Open, 2007, oil on panel, 4.5" x 6.5"
Pairs, 2009, oil on panel, 9" x 10"
Nursery Crossing, 2007, oil on panel, 6.5" x 9.5"
Bayou Baptism, 2008, oil on panel, 12" x 16
Stone Basin Mooring, 2008, oil on panel, 11" x 5.5"
Ladder, 2011, oil on panel, 9.5" x 11.5"
Held, 2007, oil on panel, 9" x 11.5"
Bubbling Well #1, 2008, oil on panel, 7" x 10.5"
Bubbling Well #2, 2008, oil on panel, 8" x 5.5"
Red Moons Rising, 2009, oil on panel, 13" x 13"
I am drawn to the bravado of the young boxers, to the sculpted bodies they use as instruments to make their way in the world. This, in contrast with their tender spirits and youthful faces creates a certain tension in the paintings. The older boxers show a different kind of strength, and a deeper, darker spirit.
On the Ropes (Chuck Wepner), 2001, oil on panel, 6.5” x 6.25”
Dempsey, 2001, oil on panel, 11.25” x 8”
Card Boxers, 1998, oil on panel, 4”x 11”
Olympic Boxing Team 1960, 2003, oil on panel, 10” x 15”
Cassius Clay at 20, 2002, oil on panel, 11.25” x 8”
Joe Louis, 2002, oil on panel, 8.5” x 6”
Jack Johnson (the beginning), 1996, oil on panel, 7” x 5”
Jack Johnson (the end), 1998, oil on panel, 7” x 11”
Jack Sharkey, 1998, oil on panel, 7” x 11”
Three Boxers, 1962, oil on panel, 1998, 8” x 10”
These athletes are well known for their accomplishments on the field. I am interested in portraying their vulnerabilities as men. I am particularly drawn to painting people whose life experience is very different from my own. Painting these old time ball players is a way of imagining their lives, a meditation on their roles as both ordinary men and American heroes. What remains is an understanding that ballplayers – even great ones – are less acquainted with triumph than they are with failure.
Red Sox 1946, 1998, oil on panel, 11'‘x 14”
Trinity, 1995, oil on panel, 11” x 14”
Bearden, Boudreau, Harder, 1996, oil on panel, 6” x 8”
Don Newcombe, 1999, oil on panel, 9.75” x 12.75”
Frank Floyd and Satchel Paige, 2003, oil on panel, 6.5” x 5”
Lefty Grove, 1999, oil on panel, 6” x 5”
Bill Mazeroski, 1999, oil on panel, 12.5” x 9.5”
Yogi, 1999, oil on panel, 4” x 7.5”
Gehrig, McCarthy and Teammates, 2004, oil on panel, 5.5” x 7.25”
Giants, 1998, oil on panel, 4” x 6”
Paul and Dizzy Dean, 1999, oil on panel, 8.5” x 11”
The Gas House Gang, 1999, oil on panel, 3” x 7”
Jimmy Foxx, 2002, oil on panel, 11.5” x 9.25”
Yogi Berra, 2003, oil on panel, 11.5” x 9.25”
Mike Gonzales, 2000, oil on panel, 9.5” x 7.5”
Pepper Martin, 1999, oil on panel, 10” x 7”
Ted Williams, 2000, oil on panel, 7” x 5”
Clyde Sukeforth, 2002, oil on panel, 8.5” x 6”
Satchel Paige, 2001, oil on panel, 11” x 7”
Tony C, 2002, oil on panel, 11.75” x 10.75”
