Still life, late 90's

In the late '90's, I threw myself humbly into still life painting, working toward that clarity of color and light, and straightforwardness of technique, that I'd learned to admire so much in the early Impressionists. The Cezanne retrospective in Philadelphia helped, too.

The above is from 1998, oil, about 24x30in.

Pink, 1997, oil on canvas, 16x11in.

White Irises, 2000, oil, 36x26in.

Skull with Lemons, 1997, oil, 18x20in.

Tulips in a coffee can, 1996, oil, 24x20.

Blue Hydrangeas, 1997, oil, 14x11in. Private collection, Mexico.

Big pinks, 2000, oil, 30x30in.

Walnuts, eggplants, flower, 1997, oil, 18x20in.

African daisies, 2000, oil, 36x26in.

White flowers, 1997, oil, 20x18in.

More old paintings, circa 1995

Grey still life (1995), 24x28in.

Backyard (1995), 24x28in.

Night car (1995), 20x24in.

Tulips (1995), 24x20in.

House (1995), 24x28in.

All these are oil on canvas, painted not long after grad school, working through some of the de Kooning and Diebenkorn influences, but also starting to look toward more traditional, perception-based paintings, strongly influenced by my job as a guard at the Metropolitan. In particular, there was a huge and beautiful show there, Origins of Impressionism, which focused on the early work of the French Impressionists, and which would lead me to spend a few years painting outdoors and from still lifes in the studio, working toward toward a clarity of light and color and a directness of technique. Examples of that stuff to come, too.

With these, the landscapes are done from memory or imagination, the still lifes from direct observation. The grey still life was especially a response to the still lifes in the Origins show, while the tulips, which are now in my mother's house, was more a synthesis of observation and abex technique. The house an example of that, too, strongly influenced by de Kooning's so-called highway paintings of the fifties. The car more of a mood piece, and the backyard from a strong childhood memory. The backyard painting is in a private collection in San Francisco, the house in a private collection in Colorado, and the grey still life was used as a promotional poster for an arts series at my undergraduate school, Wittenberg University.

Some more old stuff

Upside-down Tricycle (1992), oil on canvas, 30x30in.

Tireswing (1992), oil on canvas, 40x40in.

Lawn chairs and backstoop (1992), oil on canvas, 50x50in.

Porch (1992), oil on canvas, 60x36in.

Way (1993), oil on canvas, @32x42in.

Tireswing, Porch, and Way were all in my thesis show. For more about my days at Pratt, what I was thinking and doing, see the previous post. Tireswing is now in a private collection in Brooklyn. My mother always said the little boy reminded her of one of my brothers.

Take me back

Four Houses, 1992-3, oil on canvas, @40x60in.

Recently had some old slides scanned to digital and, although they are not always the best quality, I'll be posting some of them here, and you can also see them in my picasa albums, link to the right. This splashy thing was a part of my MFA Thesis exhibition at Pratt Institute in the spring of 1993, and is now tucked away in a storage locker on Flatbush a few blocks from my studio. Very much in thrall to the Bay Area Figurative painters of the 50's and 60's back then, especially Richard Diebenkorn, by far the best of the lot. And also starting to come more and more under the influences of de Kooning and Matisse, but more on that later. I was learning to paint, obviously, and I was in love with the splash and the sturm, etc. I was, what, 24 or 25 when I was painting this one. My god, that's young.


Four Houses is based on a photo of a row of houses in the neighborhood where I grew up in Toledo, viewed from Highland Park, looking across South Avenue. I was big into exploring images from childhood back then, toys and houses and fields. More to come.