Oil on Canvas over Sculpted Foam and Brushed Aluminum
56X46 Inches
The desire to explore or reveal something deeper of the life experience is a primal force of figurative art .Deconstruction of the painted figure in a plastic way, the illusion of taking it apart ,exploding it and illustrating that process is apparent in Picassos many Cubists masterpieces(more decoratively in those by Braque,Leger and Gris)Francis Bacon and Wilhelm de Kooning achieved equally brilliant results not long after, if not more aggressively. Notably in the de Kooning 'Woman'series. The desire to take it apart turn it inside out, allows the substitution of paint for the internal body substances.An outrageously captivating experience .My paintings of the late 1990s and beyond are animated by the same instincts as my heroic predecessors. The difference , after I draw it and paint I physically cut up ,I do not illustrate. I do physically deconstruct the painting.after it is sketched and painted I take a razor and reduce it to 70 or 80 small pieces. Thus begins the process of reconstruction. The pieces are adhered to varying thicknesses of non-biodegradable construction grade foam. A process of overlapping and interposing painting ,carving, , and eventually reassembling of those pieces begins. In" running figure" the primal urge spread from the deconstruction of the limbs and torso to the construction of a mask and then into totemic background. Whenever a mask developes things African begin to happen naturally . The broad cross etchings were extensively practiced in my youth. Possibly ingested during a period of obsession with Vincent van Gogh, age 14. I was a student of the Art Institute of Chicago. Constantly roaming endless impressionistic galleries of the museum. The white line on dark background is achieved not by brush application. Deepened strokes are scribed in into wet polymer/mixed with marble stone dust. Dark umber is applied after it dries. When that surface dries lightly sanding the r idges produces white lines. Which contribute to the African-totemic quality. The incorporation of brushed aluminum and brushed copper is another departure from traditional European derived painting styles. Which I learned interspersed if not long after years of a assembla'ge, working with every conceivable found material. I've noticed that Jasper John's has made a considerable living from the cross hatchet style. Even referencing' crying Dutch women' a la the school of Dutch painting 1500+. I can honestly say that Jap bore no influence at all upon my progress. Although a generation apart I too was awed by Marcel Duchamp