Still Life with Dancing Souls

The Return of Mr. Vena Cava

Elegant Gathering in the Garden of the Meatheads

This is a painting on sewn and glued paper. The paint I used is acrylic paint. Its an Elegant Gathering in the Garden of the Meatheads, The title is adapted from a Chinese scroll painting called Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden. Like that painting, the figural elements,which here are severed heads and uprooted plants, disport themselves horizontally across the painting's surface.

What is it about? Its just a way to make a still life painting, it references Renaissance and Baroque scientific illustration but also religious and genre painting of the same period, in particular the Vanitas still lifes. I love the dialogue those types of visual expression have with each other. A lot of my visual products are my own attempt to be part of that ongoing dialogue.

The Destroyed Book

This is a photo of a work I call the "Destroyed Book." It started out as 3 inch by 5 inch Moleskine Cahier. I took it everywhere I went for two weeks, sketching people all the while. After I finished sketching on all of the pages, I undid the stitching on the spine of the Cahier. I glued all of the pages together in to a continuous page that measures 30 inches by 15 1/2 inches. I sewed it back into the cover and that is where the fun began .

I drew and collaged on each side. It depicts some of major preoccupation-Renaissance and Baroque scientific illustration, Asian sculpture, quirky advertising and packaging design and wierd toys. I flded it all up as sort of an accordion style book so it fits into the original cover. I like how one can see my feet in one of the photos.

Avatar

This is called Avatar. It measures 16 inches by 20 inches and is watercolor on paper. I have a tremendous love for the anatomical illustrations that accompany the works of Andreas Vesalius. I think that a lot of scientific illustration from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods follow the conventions of the religious and still life paintings of those periods. Because religious iconography relates to internal states of being, one can use these conventions to depict states of mind and feeling.

This is my first post in what I hope will be an online portfolio.