- Recent Work
Depending on when I last updated. - To know my work, know that I know what I do. Every mark is there for a reason, exactly as it is. I describe the world as I feel it and as I understand it rationally, in broad strokes. To find the lexicon of my work, look through the filter of modern painting to the decorative arts: the fluidity of Art Nouveau, the sleekness of Deco, the geometry of the Wiener Werkstatte, the deliberate imperfection of Islamic art, and the graphic tempo of Japanese woodblock prints and screens. Ply that stylistic breadth with the liberty of materiality granted by the Abstract Expressionists. Then take it further, take it off the picture plane. Engage in contemporary explorations of environmental engagement as canvases float free of the wall in installations like heraldic banners. Dig back into the sculptural as paint wraps around the edges of the canvas. Push forward into pictorial understanding enabled by digital renderings and repetitions with multiple panels that dialogue in any configuration.
· Sighted – an art “discourse” work playing on the market and the trope that “painting is dead.”
Oil on canvas, meathooks, chains
72" X 24" installed at 120"
2012
· Sacred | Profane – a challenge to myself: my work is verily who I am, yet nothing should be taken so seriously that it becomes unquestionable, untouchable.
Oil on canvas
60" X 114" installed
2012
· Ms. Henri Ray Smith – another “discourse” work, an odalisque, based on Matisse, Man, and Kiki respectively.
Oil on canvas, hanger, cord, and bead
12” X 24” installed with knot to 6’6”
2012
· My Funny Valentine – in keeping with the current emphasis on “upcycling,” a contemporary take on consumerism, this work is made primarily from glassless frames given me by a gallery that closed, and reclaimed cardboard; it is titled for the song written and performed by too many great artists to list. In the spirit of “pay it forward” it was my intention that the original gift become a gift to another, though I have yet to find it a good home. The message, “take me,” asserts itself both in that spirit of generosity, and in the realm of feminine sexuality.
Pencil, gesso, corrugated cardboard, and frame
19" X 102" X 3" installed
2012
· bi-. – addressing the concept of duality, and a compact example of my typical process, bi-. employs both concept and form: hard and soft line, bright and subdued hues play out symbolically: anima and animus, seasons, moods, and even a narrative - the notion of being “bi-coastal,” which, as a New Yorker, led me to California, the gold rush, and the significant role of Chinese Americans in that story—and both coasts hotbeds of American culture today.
Oil on canvas
A modular diptych
Variable, each canvas is 12" X 12" X 1.5"
2012
- · Benglish – another “discourse” piece, playing off the work of Lynda Benglis.
Oil on canvas, mica powder, pencil
66" X 78" X 9" installed
2012
- · All the Little Cashews – a response to a contemporary answer to the French café, Jerry Saltz’s facebook profile; it is informed by nautical signal flags, touches on linguistic marks and symbols, and plays on countless figures in art history from cave painters, to renaissance masters, through to modern and contemporary artists of note.
Oil on canvas, hardware
Variable - shown at 63 sq ft, up to 70 sq ft
2011
- · I – a stain painting with graphic pop, states over and over again, “me,” until the paint built up so fat the layers could be polished; it is formally rooted in the work of On Kawara.
Oil on canvas
36" X 12" X 1.5"
2011
- · Desire – an exploration of that fertile aspect of the human psyche; it draws heavily on cinema on that subject from Hollywood’s golden age, chief among them A Streetcar Named Desire. Like Metropolis and bi-., Desire is a modular work, worked and intended to create symbolic narrative in every configuration. I began this process inspired by the ease of image manipulation with today’s digital tools.
Oil on canvas
A modular diptych
Variable, each canvas is 30" X 60" X 1.5"
2011 - · Metropolis – which having begun with the concept of the “value” of culture in numeric under-painting, expanded to encompass social values as I witnessed with the world the unfolding disasters in Japan, and then imploded brutally around the subject of human values as I learned of my friend’s rape in her own home; it is named for the Fritz Lang masterpiece.
Oil on canvas, mica powder
A modular diptych
Variable, each canvas 36" X 12" X 1.5"
2011
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