The Big Chicken

If you live anywhere in my region, you know the enduring and endearing landmark "The Big Chicken." I completed this painting some years ago and sold it shortly thereafter - to whom, I have no idea.

How important is it that the artist knows who has purchased her/his work? If the artist becomes regionally, nationally or globally well known, for the most part, collectors will present themselves. And, for these artists, often authorship is the reason an artwork is bought. But, no doubt, this painting was acquired, not for the artist, but because of its subject, as is the reason I painted it.

I continue to be intrigued by values and importance imparted to art for reasons that are, for me at least, difficult to pin down.

"The Big Chicken", 2007, oil-canvas, 36" x 24"

Vacancy

The tension between abstract and figurative art has been ongoing for over half a century. This painting exploits that tension. Both the brightly colored stripes and the black and white face vie for dominance. The girl's eyes engage the viewer and yet remain out of reach.

"Vacancy", Oil and acrylic on canvas, 30"x40", 2006

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.

The Billiard Player

I enjoy taking traditional themes and interpreting them in a contemporary manner. The theme of the billiard player has been visited and revisited for over a century.

This 30x24 oil on canvas painting from 2008 is my take on the traditional theme.

Pieta

Pieta (Italian for pity) is a recurring subject for classical and contemporary art forms. Originally the pieta represented the Virgin Mary cradling the dead Christ. Over time it's meaning has expanded to represent grief, sacrifice and parental and other expressions of love.

"I'll Stop the World", Oil on canvas, 30" x 40", 2008




"Pieta", Oil on canvas, 24" x 48", 2008

Security Blanket

This is the first of a series of paintings in a sort of op-art style that I hope to one day produce as a quilt - hence the name.

"Security Blanket I", 36"x36", oil on canvas

Blue and Gray

This painting hangs in my professional office. Of all the works that have hung there, this one has drawn more comments than any other. Why?
History paintings were at one time all the rage. Since the photographic process had not yet come along, painters were the visual recorders of history. But for the last 150 years photography has taken over that job.
This oil on canvas painting (24" x 48", 2008) is based on a photo made infamous during the war in Viet Nam. It is in a sense a history painting of a history photo of a historical event. The blue and gray colors recall America's own mid-nineteenth century civil war as well as the one erupting at home during the Viet Nam war.

Breaking the Rules

Tina Steele Lindsey wrote in her blog not too long ago that she would at times "bend the rules" by using supports that she had been told would not work. Woo Hoo! You go girl! Give me an art rule and I am either going to figure how to break it successfully or confirm it just can't be done. Take this painting for example. It is oil and acrylic on canvas - only I painted the acrylic after the oil. It worked perfectly - the panes between the images are painted in acrylic and appear almost (but imperfectly) adhered on. Just what the doctor ordered.
"Attraction" 2006, 30"x40", acrylic and oil on canvas.

Artist as Viewer

If you'll read down a couple of posts, you'll see that I use an infant as a metaphor for a work of art. Of course I was relating this to the experiences of a diverse viewership with an art piece. But that metaphor works another way for the artist. We are glad when a piece sells. But this oil on canvas painting of our local Methodist Church (2008, 24"x 20") sold before the paint was good and dry. And as such the photo I have of it is kind of blurry (my camera was on the blitz). Sometimes I like to experience a painting I've done for a while before I let it go. Maybe, after being the artist, I need to impart meaning to the painting as a viewer.