Early Works
My artwork has always captured the mood and forms of my environment, especially the early works. When I first arrived in NYC, I was overwhelmed. The tall buildings could not be more different from the rolling hills of Austin, TX. The crazy energy was infectious. Within the first few weeks there were several sketches in response to this new environment, trying to capture that energy amidst all that geometry. These are three of my favorites.
Everything was more intense in NYC, including romance. The men in my life were often the subjects of my drawings. Adal, a Puerto Rican photographer was one. Alston, a British bass player was another.
Never had enough money back then. My building had a printing firm on the 4th floor and I was able to obtain as much of their leftover paper as I could drag out of the dumpsters. Eventually I just tipped the superintendent to bring me the heavier cover-stock I liked, skipping the dumpster entirely. The paper was not heavy enough for paint, but I bought India ink by the half-gallon along with inexpensive brushes and produced a LOT of black and white drawings. That was when those cheap foam brushes were first introduced and I loved them, but I would even draw with sticks, as in RetroStarlight.
Dancers are a repeated subject of my work. This was an early Dancer in a SouthWestern setting.
The Boy in the Blue Striped Shirt is autobiographical. I met him at the Mudd Club, we talked and danced. I woke up the next morning very disoriented with a horrible headache, both eyes blacked, the whites almost entirely burgundy with blood. I reeled. Turned out I had been slipped Rohypnol, had been assaulted, raped, robbed and left unconscious with my front door wide open. Or maybe I was robbed after the door was left wide open. My stereo was gone, my prescription glasses were gone, my winter coat was gone. I had no memory after telling my friend Margot I was leaving to get breakfast with the boy in the blue striped shirt.
Boy in Blue Striped Shirt
During the mid to late-80’s the main focus of my work was either the Rape (the R&R series), or never-completely-successful attempts to ignore it. These two colorful little compositions were part of the latter, an attempt to bring so much color and energy to bear as to block out any visual echoes of violence.
Joyful Study #2
Joyful Study #5
While at Texas A&M working on my Masters in Landscape Architecture, I re-ignited my art-making by doing an intense Special Study Course with painter Dick Davidson. It was an attempt at 10 years out to flush the Rape out of my system and move forward. After the dozens and dozens of drawings that made up the R&R Series (Rape & Resurrection/ still unpublished), I did a half dozen watercolors. The first was quite colorful, but when I revisited the composition a few weeks later I limited the colors to Van Dyke Brown and Prussian Blue. This series is titled Water Under the Bridge.
Water Under the Bridge #1
Water Under the Bridge #3
Water Under the Bridge #2
Water Under the Bridge #4
Water Under the Bridge #5
The Original Conflict drawing was done during the 80’s and was one of the more expressively violent drawings. In the early teens I went back into it with color using oil pastels. It was an intense composition. Finding it during one of my artmaking stay-cations I used it as inspiration or jumping off point for six small paintings… all done quickly, all mimicking the composition. These are two which have survived. Two were lost (or stolen?), two were cut up for collage.
Conflict Study #2
Conflict Study #6