the scream

"the scream" (self portrait) oil on canvas with lightbox and x-ray. 43 x 81 x 10 cm. 2005 artist's collection

I had myself x-rayed while screaming for this piece. poverty, corruption, injustice, CNN, NBC doling out a constant stream of fear and anxiety while we sit back, turn a knob for enough steaming hot water to fill a swimming pool while people are living on top of garbage heaps living under corregated tin shacks while bankers are paying themselves obscene bonuses while kids are being sent away to die in the name of 'freedom' while corporate greed has us all by the throats, while poor people are given 25 years for misdemeanors while the planet dies beneath our feet while polar bears drown..................it all just makes me want to SCREAM.

ex

"ex" screenprint, woodcut on rives BFK paper 65 x 50 cm. edition size: 6

fortune favors the bold

"fortune favors the bold" screenprint, collage, woodcut on rives BFK paper. 65 x50 cm. 2005 edition size: 9

battle of the bulge

"battle of the bulge" oil, oil stick, cement, spray paint, toy soldiers, assorted material on canvas 183 x 132 cm. 2001 artist's collection


close up detail

daddy bush had soundly defeated the baddie of baghdad and america was on its war footing. its a mindset my country seems to relish: the war on poverty, the war on cancer, the war on drugs, the war on terror; doesn't seem to win any of them but that's another story. anyways, it was 'in the air'. i visited my mother during this time and was going through some junk i had stored and happened upon these plastic soldiers i played with as a kid. plastic nazi soldiers goose stepping! how twisted. i thought i could use them in a painting so i took them back with me to my studio in nyc. on the internet i found a company that makes highly detailed metal tanks about 2 cm. long, tigers, panzers, shermans, etc. so i combined all these elements to illustrate the battle of the bulge from a bird's eye view. the b.o.b. was the last german offensive in WW2, dec. 1944. in heavy snow the germans launched their surprise attack through the ardennes in a last ditch effort to repel the allied advance into germany. (they lost) in the painting i tried to imagine what it must have looked like from a low flying airplane. tanks leaving trails in the snow, the bold advance, the chaotic response. architectural model shrubs make up the foliage and globs of paint make up the fire.

maps

"redoubtable" acrylic, collage, pencil, on paper. 101 x 70 cm. 1992 artist's collection


"redoubtable" screenprint on rives BFK paper. 76 x 57 cm. edition size: 25 with 4 proofs. 2003

here is an example of how a work on paper a decade later can inspire a print version

monet

"monet" acrylic, cement, on paper. app. 27 x 20 cm. 1989 public collection

well known boston interior designer charles spada has been a friend for over 20 years. charlie was instrumental in the creation of the AIDS hospice in boston by bringing together designers, artists, and charitable organizations for a much needed hospice for the dying. he asked me to donate a piece, preferably a landscape. since i lived in the center of the city without a car it was a bit difficult to get out into nature and work so i flipped through books and found a monet i liked. i remember kneeling on my studio floor doing version after version, hoping the process would take me somewhere. it didn't. but i liked this one. when charlie told me the patients loved it, that was all that mattered.

spike

"spike asleep on the NY times" acrylic, collage, cement on paper. 101 x 70 cm. 1987 artist's collection

spike (1980 - 2000) was my friend and companion for 20 years. he had a voracious appetite, hence, his nickname: maggot.
a good day for spike was to roll out of bed around noon, devour a can of catfood, snack on a bag of doritos washed down with a budweiser in the afternoon (he would not drink imports), nap, woof a plate of filet mignon for dinner, then hang out with me in my studio until the wee hours, snacking on chocolate chip cookies, milk, left-over spaghetti, and anything else he could get his paws on. to him, snow was kitty litter falling from the sky.

submarine land

"submarine land" acrylic, oil, oil stick on paper. 101 x 70 cm. 2000 private collection

i did this after another sub disaster, this time the russian nuclear cruise missile submarine kursk, which sunk with all hands in the barents sea. although horrifically tragic, it is that horror of unescapable claustrophobic life and death drama that is so compelling. submarine movies play on that very theme, 'das boot', 'u-571', 'hunt for red october' just to name a few. the words are from the vietnam-era song, 'one, two, three, what are we fighting for, don't ask me i don't give a damn'..............................

in the valley of dreams

"valley of dreams" acrylic, collage, ink, fingerpaint on paper. 101 x 70 cm. 1997 artist's collection

bruce chang is a poet who lives in boston and a friend. his words inspired this piece.

kirchner

ernst ludwig kirchner ( 1880 - 1938 ) is one of my favorite painters. he was a founding member of 'die brucke' (the bridge), a group of artists in germany who pioneered expressionism. branded a 'degenerate' artist by the nazis, over 600 of his paintings were sold off or destroyed by those idiots. probably as a direct result of such a massive insult, he committed suicide in 1938.
"5 women on the street" is one of his pivotal works painted in 1913. much has been written about his work and this piece in particular so i am not going to elaborate further along those lines. it inspired me to do my own version. i didn't change the composition much, i just wanted to have fun with it so i glued feathers and fake fur.


"5 women on the street". acrylic, collage, on canvas. 157 x 127 cm. 1986 private collection

below, 2 versions on paper from 1987 and 1992. both in private collections.

red light series

"hollyweird and vine" acrylic, cement, oil stick, spray paint on canvas. 142 x 183 cm. 1984 whereabouts unknown

interesting story about this painting. in 1986 i was approached by LA interior designer hal maguire who had somehow heard about my work. hal was involved in decorating the interior of the "beverly hillbillies mansion" in bel air (shot for the TV show) as a backdrop for a fundraiser for AIDS research. he asked me if he could ship this painting out to the coast to be included in his decoration scheme. i agreed. elizabeth taylor was the chairwoman and the event was a big success. our agreement called for me to cover the cost of the paintings return and wouldn't you know it, that caught me at a bad time. so, as a stopgap measure, we agreed to hang the painting in liz taylor's attorney's office, one mr. marcus wasson III as a loan. hal writes me, "it is stunning, against a mirror wall, looking out over the lights of the entire city". it was in a good place and i did not pursue its return, however, mr wasson dies, his office is emptied out by his lover, mr. joseph steia and the painting disappears. if anyone out there has seen this work, please let me know its whereabouts.

red light series

"ouderkerksplein" pencil, oil stick, ink, on paper. 18 x 13.5 cm. 2003 private collection


"herbersrasse" acrylic, collage, oil stick on paper. 56 x 76 cm. 1983 artist's collection



"red lola" acrylic, cement, oil stick on paper. 76 x 56 cm. 1983 private collection

three works on paper from the red light series.