Some Whimsy Interlaced with Social Commentary
Most of what I paint is non-objective and non-representational — i.e., abstract expressionistic and impressionistic, if we want to cast these creative gestures into categories.
However, there are moments when I want to — or even feel compelled to — evoke representations of some vagaries of internal states or some expression of outrage at a particular futility crossing my path or just toss a gesture toward — as I indicated in the title, above — a personal whim.
And there are moments when I want to just acknowledge — maybe memorialize — the damage I see our world of humans doing to ourselves. I mean, we’ve got a little time left, apparently, so: Why Not?
The pieces below are a little different from much of the rest of what I’ve put one this site in that I’m referencing objects to characterize some quality of relationship or some feeling tone or some event. Often I’m responded with at least tiny element of wryness, too.
The Iris and the Pencil - Just a moment one Spring when the Deep-Blue Irises were bloom and there was a large pencil on my table. 15 x 22 inches. Acrylic and Pencil on Paper.
I look at so many, many of the resilient, interlocking ecological and social systems that we have pushed beyond their tipping points, into territories where they must reorganize in ways we will neither recognize nor be able to undo.
The Last Tree - A moment of poignant reflection as I think about the tipping points cascading as the end of our tenure approaches. 15 x 22 inches. Acrylic on Paper.
Stepping Outside the Lines - Just a bit of fun. I see a rather elegant, decked-out young woman wearing an Arabesque head piece while walking to the left, beyond the line — toward the edge of what can be known. 22 x 30 Inches. Acrylic on Paper.
Three Crows - This was about my friends in the backyard that we've been feeding for years. If you look in the upper left quadrant, there's the hint of a fourth crow that surfaced in the yellow-green paint. I like the suggesting of crossing sunbeams in front of the swirling light. 15 x 22 inches. Acrylic on Paer. The tied for Second Place in the 2022 Best Abstract Expressionist section of the American Art Awards, an international competition with participants from 69 countries.
Arboreal Archipelago — To me, it looks like a tree overlaid on the suggestion of a map. The impression coupled with the intersecting colors, none of which have much to do with trees, makes me happy. Acrylic on Paper, 22 x 30 inches.
Migrant Invasion — I mentioned 'wryness' in the heading above. This was painted around 2018 when there was a big fuss about these dangerous immigrants infiltrating our world. it this case these' lethal characters are just simple little people, a parent reassuring a child; both simply wanting to find a peaceful secure life. The "White House" is of course protected from the threat posed by a very secure wall, rickety and permeable and vacuuous though it may be in reality. 22 x 30 inches. Acrylic on Paper.
Playing Life in the Key of Race — It always falls flat. 22 x 30 Inches. Acrylic on Paper. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Commission Gallery of Arts Tribute | January 7-29, 2022 at the Emporium Center, Knoxville, TN Playing Life in the Key Of Race Assures Disharmony for All. This painting is sad lament and call to recognize the glorious melody we can collectively produce if we join ALL our voices together in positive unison, each contributing its own unique timbre. As visual metaphor, my little figures overlaying the turbulence are constrained in isolating cages of their own making. But the score is available for us to write a new song; a new harmony – one we’ve not heard before though one we’re capable of collaboratively composing. But– as with my paintings – doing so requires freeing ourselves to listen to the deeper, as yet unrecognized resonances lying beneath the constrictions of our preconceptions to hear what longs to be sung. Difference isn’t dissonance. A rainbow of music could sustain our world if we just tune the instrument that is our lives, embracing the complementary palette of our diverse capacities.
Synchrony
No OTHERING. I didn't really know how to capture this human propensity toward negative actions as an image. This is the best I could manage.
More Than What We Can See — There's more than meets the eye. Pick a context; any context, and this concept applies.
A Ray of Sunshine — Making a joke, of course, along the whimsical side of things. There's a lucent, aeriform quality I enjoy very much, highlighted some by the partial tracing of the edges. 30 x 40 Inches. Acrylic on Paper.
IrIdescent Trails on White — Acrylic on Paper — 22 30 Inches.
Iridescent Rainbow - Acrylic on Paper — 22 x 30 Inches.
Swirl — Acrylic on Paper — 22 x 30 Inches.
A Moment with Chartreuse — Acrylic on Paper — 11 xX 15 Inches.