I’ll begin with a very early one. Actually, this one began as the painting I donated to the MBA. That piece was about 48″ square. It was, essentially a large version of the left half of this painting.
The concept has its roots partly in a series of talks I attended, given by the late Dr. Earl Palmer. The series was entitled “Biblical Mandate for the Arts”, in which he proposed that the Bible has a directive for the arts. Very interesting, and I think well-founded, inspirational.
It also has roots that go way, way back to my art school days. I was doing photography-as-art then, and actually, the pieces I was doing then are remarkably similar to these paintings: part image, part text, extreme emphasis on the concept (I was called a “conceptual artist”), and very personal in context. Each piece contained hand-written elements as well. This work was included in a pivotal show of photographic work at LA County Museum of Art – way back when.
Anyways, here’s one of my establishing, recent-ish paintings to consider. Again, nodding toward Dr. Palmer, also to Larry Rivers, to a very recent discovery (for me) – Colin McCahon … and to design/typographic sensibilities.
All are oil on canvass (I’ll post more), 20″ x 40″, a double-square format.
… and a detail …
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