A Very Personal Note

On the eve of the next three months and four gallery openings I felt the need to purge some thoughts. I am now wrapping up the last two of nine new paintings created in six months. With these, I am excited about the images that will be shown, however they have been created during, and chronicle a dark period in my life.

While all my work has personal undertones, with these I feel I will be wearing my heart on my sleeve. While some of the work has mystery, others deal with blatant subject matter that leaves my inner most thoughts hanging naked on the walls of New York and California.

It started with "Temperance", the card I was "dealt" for the Lowbrow Tarot Project. I finished this in February and is my largest work to date. To anyone who knows me, this is very ironic as balance in life is not the nature of this beast. I am quite happy with the results, though after six months of living with the painting, I would make some minor changes.

At the same time, I began working on the newer paintings for a series called "Somber Mourning". These I used as an outlet for the emotions surrounding the death of my beloved father. I worked on them before, during, and after his passing. They will be shown collectively at The Alternative Cafe in September.

I was asked to create a paining for "Blood, Sweat, and Fears" opening at Sacred Gallery NYC in October. The premise was for the artists participating to examine their greatest fear. I obliged, and not to spoil the surprise ended up with a self portrait in a somewhat "compromising" position. The line-up is stellar, and I look forward to hanging the work however dark it may be.

The first show to open in a few short days is at Last Rites, my first opening in New York city. Again, I was asked for my darkest work. I used some imagery that touched home to various things on my mind in these months that did not have any other place. In fact one painting I had originally decided not to create. Upon reading something of my Father's however, I knew it had to be purged.

While there was a little worry that a few of these paintings may alienate those who know me, one thing that these "dark" paintings (one of which I created solely for this reason) assured me of is that nothing is shocking.

I will not tell of the events leading up to this, but the particular painting that to me had blatant "shock" value was shown to a chaplain in my presence. The man did not bat an eye but simply asked the meaning behind it. At the time, what exactly the painting meant to me had not coalesced into words yet. So, I was left to find a way to make it "darker" and find out exactly what my story behind the piece was.

I will be putting the last touches on these in the next few days. Me and my work are left stronger. I will be exploring some new ideas and have an agenda to learn some new things and experiment a bit. It's time to become more deliberate in the direction I am going, and address some personal issues.

I will be taking a trip to Los Angeles for the opening of the Lowbrow Tarot at La Luz de Jesus, and in May of 2011 will be showing what comes next in my first split solo show show at The Congregation Gallery. I will be sharing the space with phenomenal artist Dan Harding.

I hope to see you all there, and that you enjoy the new work.