Exit (Debra Lafave)

We have all, because of poor judgment, found ourselves in regrettable situations from which we wish we could escape with the same ease as exiting a computer program. Unfortunately, real life does not afford the same options as the virtual world.

The center piece, which informs this painting, is based on a news photo of Debra Lafave facing charges of statutory rape in 2005. The other images work to enforce the tension in the work with no real direct commentary, thus leaving interpretation open to the viewer.

"EXIT" 2006, oil and wax on canvas, 30"x40"

Detente

This painting is one of a series of montages comprised of different, seemingly non-associated, images. Sometimes the images are subdued in double exposure (try to find the smile of a young maiden and salute of a soldier to a fallen comrade) and other times up front and rendered in different styles. When I make these paintings, there is no set plan. I contemplate the work and add images as seems fit. When completed, a story emerges and, in turn, a title.
In this painting two elderly gentlemen are "at ease", which in French is "detente", against a turbulent historical backdrop. That is my reading. Yours may be different, which, of course, is a case-in-point of the idea that a work is completed by its viewers.

"Detente", 2007, 36"x48", oil on canvas.