" November 22, 2008 "

Acrylic on Canvas

46.5 x 47.5 inches

Locked into our DNA is a now unnecessary urge to identify whether the shadowy form in the twilight is a hungry lion or a visitor from a friendly tribe. (I say unnecessary, since today it is always wise to assume the lion.) With an abstract painting, once we realize it's 'just art' the potential power of the primal urge is watered down to a game of nostalgia. Abstraction continually struggles with how to keep the viewer in the present, to reconnect with that power, and to somehow deny that what we are presented with in paint is anything more than an artifact.

" November 14, 2008 "

Acrylic & Paper Collage on Canvas

14 x 11 inches

"November 11, 2008"

Acrylic & Paper Collage

on Canvas

14 x 11 inches

Title: "November 5, 2008"
Acrylic & Paper Collage on Canvas
14 x 11 inches

After working about 4 days, more or less, on this small painting I began to wonder whether I had now started a painting, or finished one.

I had gone with a friend last week to see some impressionist paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago's collection. Since I had years ago painted landscapes exclusively, the urge to do a new landscape was very strong. That is how I started this piece.

But we are not in the 1890s, and I am not the same person, or painter, that I was 15 years ago. Art history and personal history cannot be set aside on a whim. So, after much work and considerable looking and thinking, this little painting emerged as you see it in the photo; continuing my "white painting" series that was started about 9 months ago. It seems to fit nicely into the route I'm on now, and ultimately there is a comfort in not retracing old steps. The landscape is under there somewhere, but an artwork can gain energy from going beyond what once seemed like a destination. This piece is finished, but it points the way to the ones not yet started.