Growing up in Nebraska, I'd always
planned on moving to New York to paint, but when I graduated college in 1966, a
foolish and addled road trip sidetracked me to San Francisco, where I've now
lived for half a century.
Except for 2012, when my wife and I relocated to
Manhattan for a year.
I quickly found a midtown studio which
fulfilled my childhood dreams, and it seemed only natural that my attention
would also turn to the art I'd been doing before I got waylaid by the West
Coast: small, minimalist sculptures; and paintings whose subjects were the Kennedy
era space program and the first French atomic submarine.
The French Secret,
34" x 48" acrylic and archival photo on paper on wood,
2013
Gemini,
34" x 48" acrylic and archival photo on paper on wood, 2013
I Am Big Heaven,
34" x 48" acrylic and archival photo on paper on wood, 2013
The works looked very different
from the non-objective, painterly work I'd been doing in San Francisco; they
included photo transfers and printouts from magazines of the time. (I had kept
them all those years!) I spent two years working on them, both in Manhattan and
later back in our home in San Francisco.
Jump Me,
34" x 48" acrylic and archival photo on paper on wood, 2013
The Photographer,
34" x 48" acrylic and archival photo on paper on wood, 2013
Mr. Nobody,
34" x 48" acrylic and archival photo on paper on wood, 2013
Probe,
34" x 48" acrylic and archival photo on paper on wood, 2013
Because they were so different from
what I'd been exhibiting, I showed them to very few people; they were my little
secret. But when Zeitgeist offered me a show this year, I immediately thought of
them. Zeitgeist had given me my very first shows, despite the fact
I had no record at the time and was known as an illustrator, not a painter. This would be
something similar: showing works that fell outside my comfort zone.
Included with the paintings above are five small painted wood sculptures; and in the backroom there are about a dozen smaller works with acrylic and transfer photos on wood.
Zeitgeist Gallery
05 March thru 30 April 2016
516 Hagan Street #100
Nashville TN 37203
615 256 4805
Tuesday - Saturday 11 - 5
