The artwork that I make is work that grows from my social and political concerns. Equally important to me is an ongoing discovery of significant personal imagery in the drawings and paintings.
These groups of work are intertwined. "Falling Men" began after the catastrophe of 9-11. The work grew to reflect the relegation and torture of both adults and children who suffer at the hands of racism.
During a visit to the Louvre, it occurred to me how incredibly privileged I am to be able to travel and walk through a museum as I had just walked past several homeless adults on the street. You would never see them in a museum. That thought led to the paintings of the Ladies in the Bag Lady series. She appears in the modern and Impressionist paintings. I have included the figure of the bag lady, suggesting that perhaps the viewer's perceptions of privilege will be altered in some positive way. This large series also expresses my political and social concerns.
Regarding the Boat series, I was always struck by the expansive structure of old European church ceilings with the functional ribs sliding up the curved sides, meeting at the ceiling, supporting the roof. If you visualize the ceiling upside down, the ceiling has the same formal structure as a boat, with the ribs meeting at the base of the boat. I have used many images of boat shapes to show a conveyance of time and in some cases personal memory. Boats travel back and forth carrying the stuff of living, are emptied out and return for another journey.
I recently delivered several talks on the work of Francis Bacon, Chaim Soutine, Joan Mitchell and Philip Guston to the Plastic Club in Philadelphia.
I am drawn to their saturated color and vigorous brushwork and the true freedom of expression.