The land of the Bungalows and the home of the hot dish. I'm a fish out of water . I left Chicago because it was too violent and too wild for my sanity. Too over done bursting with vulgar energy and ambition. Fat City your name is Chicago. The School of The Art Institute of Chicago where I attended as an art student was so sleepy and behind the times that it seemed like a TwiLight Zone episode. My 99 year old anatomy teacher Ms. Cassidy had given Georgia O'Keefe her anatomy instruction earler in her tenure. Point is my paintings are much too big! Where ever I got the idea that big was good I curse the day!! It was Pollock and the Abstract Expressionists that made the big warehouse sized paintings ,Rothko made some huge kites and Barnie Newman like yard goods reams long. So as a consequenceI paint big pictures. Big like deKooning not like minimalism and Newman. I liked Ad Reinhardt best scale wise I have mad many 66 X 66" canvases (Reinhardt's idea of perfect painting size ). I've used the 66" for widths too. This has made most of these works sort of modular. Same with the big portraits and collages all 41 X 29" completely modular almost a film. Scale is not merely size but content most especially.The two paintings in photograph (above in garage studio) were made over the past 3 years the painting to the left is older. Untitled works with constantly changing titles, as if titles were something in and of itself. I like flat more and more. And signs I love signs even if they are nonsense or just decoration. But I do read a lot of philosphies. Nietzsche and Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard to what end? For beauty - May is the best time in TC. The best light swelling light
I was interested in a style of Egyptian art that was from the time of Akenaten the Pharoah who preceeded King Tut and is famous as a monotheist and the style of his sculpture was extraorinary very loopy and exa.ggerated. I'v made two large drawings from a portrait of Akenaton not quite what I was looking for but good. see illustrations .
THE ONLY GOOD ARTIST IS A DEAD ARTIST - thinking about the difficulty of making art in these times when difficultly is seen as threat. Art is a profound work in it's myriad forms it make be the great work of life. Art just may be honey to a future world. Sad to see our Prince leave the building. Sorry to known he was hurting.