New York Interior

A little more than a year ago, I made a trip to NYC to see the John Currin Retrospective at the Whitney. Whenever I'm there in New York, I stay in the East Village. Somewhere down around St. Mark's and Avenue "A", right by Thompkin's Square. That's where the setting for this drawing takes place. I only finished it recently, it's charcoal on strathmore kid finish paper, making for really nice rich blacks.

DOWNTOWN INTERCHANGE

This is the largest painting I've ever done, 54x48 inches. The view is of the 110 freeway cutting thru downtown Los Angeles. I started it just before Christmas, then I pulled it out again 3 weeks ago and decided to finish it.

I had considered having a bunch of cops running a car off the road and chasing or tackling a crazed woman trying to flee on foot. It actually happened to my next door neighbor in Pasadena, she was a fruit loop, didn't take her medication and got caught in a high speed chase. I saw it happen on the news.

But then I thought... who the heck is going to buy that? Then again, it might work. Maybe I ought to try it in the future. Like Goya's series, it could be called... "I saw it happen".

"GROCERY" painting featured in this June's issue of Southwest Art Magazine

I just got the June issue of Southwest Art Magazine, it features my painting of "Grocery" on page 62, and was picked for the Best of the West. It is promoting my June show at the Tirage Gallery in Pasadena.



"Grocery" is a brand new painting. The size is 24x36 inches, oil on canvas. I really liked this street corner and the old lamp post. Even the garbage can. As I was working on this painting, I had the idea of putting a shop keeper on the sidewalk. But I decided against it and went with strategically placed pigeons instead, making it a more whimsical piece for me.

Check out http://www.southwestart.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=25

ANOTHER VISIT

This is a new painting called "ANOTHER VISIT". It is 16x20 inches, oil on canvas. I was in Coronado when I came across this scene and it struck me as something I really wanted to paint. That massive tree casting a shadow on the 1950's house, the play of light and shadow in the foreground that silhouettes the old Porche. It made me think of an untold story of what kind of dialogue was happening here, between the car's driver and the tenant of this home.

MUFFLER MONUMENT

I just finished this drawing called "Muffler Monument", it is 20x20 inches, charcoal on paper. I've had the idea for a while to do some preliminary drawings for larger, more ambitious paintings. Some using the figure. I liked the oversized scale of the muffler-man statue I saw in Escondido, and in this drawing I exaggerated him even larger. The kid down below, looking up in wonder. I imagined, what if one day in the distant future, this statue will be dug up and put into a museum? Like an ancient Egyptian or Roman god.