Over the past two years, 2021-2022, I completed several large works that had been languishing, unstarted/unfinished/unresolved for too long. I had prepared three luan hollow-core doors in the early 2000s by shaping them and filling in the gaps – since the doors are hollow, the edges had to be filled in to make them whole. The pieces had been leaning against the wall of my studio for such a long time that I didn’t even notice them any more.
In 2021 I committed to finishing them. It took about a year, as all sides of the piece needed to be attended to and then hinged together. This is the largest work I’ve attempted so far. As I painted each area, I was very influenced by the repetitive patterns in fabric that I had seen during multiple trips to Tanzania in 2018 and 2019 as well as the colorful beaded adornments I found and brought back from Kenya at that time.
The clock-painting, also finished in 2022, is a reworked piece that was “completed” in the 1990s but never displayed as it seemed awkward and made me feel uncomfortable whenever I looked at it. I wasn’t even comfortable throwing it out in case someone took it and displayed it! I finally sanded the face of it off and reworked the design, leaving the outer shape unchanged. This has been one of my most satisfying pieces of the year.
Early in 2022, I was invited to display photographs of my work on the West 83rd Kiosk, a cylindrical art gallery (West 83rd between West End Avenue and Broadway, in Manhattan). The show opened at the beginning of August and closed at the end of October. I was delighted that my brother and his wife, visiting from England got to see it.
The 4 foot diameter particleboard that was rolled behind the unfinished hollow-core doors, which I believe I purchased in around 2010, was finally turned into a painted coffee table in 2022. The top is protected by Plexiglas.
The two painted “rocks” on the coffee table are actually hollow and made of porcelain (faux rocks purchased from CB2). Here is a closeup:
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In the latter half of 2017 I created these three-dimensional works called “Atmos Spheres” (click on the link to see them) and these pieces are sculptural and remain somewhat small – can be held easily in the hand. They came from a concept of painting on rocks. Having painted on rocks in the past, and having had to leave the rocks behind where I found them due to their weight, I decided to make my own “rocks” out of papier maché. These new works are scaling up gradually, so stay tuned for additional photos as they evolve during 2018.
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In 2017 I spent several weeks in the South of France, where I produced a series of paintings which feature in a video I made. The music was composed by me in March, 2018. Here is the youtube link: https://youtu.be/n4sAqeihmoo
Here are some earlier works so you can see how the work has evolved.
Clock Painting (circa 1990) – acrylic on hardboard
Untitled (Circa 2002) – acrylic on plywood
Two paintings – Untitled (Circa 1990) – acrylic on hardboard
Untitled (Circa 2004) – acrylic on plywood
