Sarah Rose

I just finished this painting (although I confess I may go back and do more detail work) :

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“Sarah Rose” (2009). Oil paint on composite board, 16” x 49”.

The scale of the figure is larger than life, and unfortunately scale is the hardest thing to convey in a picture. To give you an idea, consider that on this same size board I was able to easily fit my entire body nearly life-size:

“Stripped Bare” (2008). Oil paint on composite board, 16”x49”.

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With the similarities, both in medium and subject matter, it is obvious that "Stripped Bare" was a major precedent for "Sarah Rose", which I was very concious of while painting. I even kept "Stripped Bare" propped up near my easel.

People are always interested in how I get from a blank canvas to the finished work. Although a few roommates have had the opportunity to see a painting from start to finish, it is largely a private process. Therefore I've decided to give you a guided tour via photos I took at various stages:

There you have it, start to finish.

Finally a painting!

It's been a while since I picked up the paintbrushes and got back to oil painting. I made an attempt last week on a self-portrait but didn't like how it was going so I put it aside for now, and went in a new directcion. I started the new painting today, which I'm much happier with, and here it is:

I'm painting on the same wood composite boards that I used for my horizontal nude paintings. The surface absorbs the oil in an interesting way, making an almost velvety surface.

Fall Harvest

I know that its been about a month since I last posted and I apologize profusely for my absence. It's been a crazy month for me, I moved to a new apartment in Midtown, and I've been getting prepared to submit a collaborative piece to the Center for New Media and the Arts in Bethel, CT for their November show. I'm collaborating with my good friend Abi Cohen on a piece we're calling "Head Garden" that will feature my collage as the backdrop for her sculptural relief. I was inspired by Abi's interest in nature and green technology to make a collage that prominently featured nature. Here it is:

"Head Garden" (2009). 18"x24"

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When installed at the Center, Abi's relief will extend out from the wall in front of my collage, covering the lower right-hand corner almost completely. I can't wait to see it installed in the gallery because Abi and I have been sending each other images of the works in progress but we've never seen them together! Keep checking back for pictures of the piece installed in the show!

Down the Rabbit Hole All Over Again

This collage is composed almost entirely of images from an Annie Liebovitz shoot for the December 2003 issue of American Vogue. Alice is played by the hauntingly childlike Natalia Vodianova and some of the world's top haute couture designers play the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts (I especially love Marc Jacobs playing a dazed and confused Caterpillar atop a giant mushroom):

Down the Rabbit Hole II, 20" diameter, (2009)

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Using the round canvas was an allusion to rabbit hole that beckons Alice into Wonderland. The circular shape lent a centrifugal force to the composition, with the vignettes composed along the edges. Alice's blue dress unites her image throughout the vignettes, and enforces the narrative aspect of the composition. I hope that you find it whimsical and fun!

Happy Birthday Captain Bruce

My Dad turned 65 this past Sunday, and my family went to Bermuda to celebrate. I didn't bring his actual present to the island, only a picture, but I wanted it to reflect his love of the ocean, and some of the aesthetics of Bermuda and, of course, Newport. The image itself is taken from a "How to Paint Seascapes" book that belonged to my grandfather 40 years ago, that we found hidden under cobwebs and decades of disuse in my grandmother's basement. I think that that family connection makes it an even more fitting present to celebrate Captain Bruce's birthday.

Darwin's Dinner Party

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Darwin's Dinner Party, 2009. (8"x8")

During the week I intern at Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea, and they have introduced me a number of stellar artists, including my new favorite artist: Walton Ford. His paintings are so exquisitely beautiful, and demonstrate such skill and mastery, that they seem to come from a bygone century. I am absolutely obsessed with the large watercolors of parrots, lions, and monkeys which recall the look of an Audobon print. Luckily for me, Paul Kasmin represents Walton Ford, and has a pile of Walton Ford promotional day planners left over from his last show. I dismembered the day planner and combined three of Walton Ford's images into this collage.

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Oftentimes when I am people-watching I am amused by how ape-like humans truly are. At rush hour it really does look, and sound, like a bunch of monkeys are riding the subway. I was drawn to the Ford vignettes involving monkeys, especially where they are engaged in ostensibly "human" activities, because it was such an amusing play on that concept. The expressions on the monkey's faces are instantly legible, and eerily familiar.

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This wise ape with his glass of wine, peering around the edge of the canvas, is one of my favorite details of the piece.

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What should I call this?

One of the hardest parts of art-making, for me, is coming up with a good title. Sometimes, the theme or content makes it easy for me, e.g. Romeo & Juliet, but other times I have writer's block. With an abstract collage, like the one I just finished, I'm almost always at a loss. Therefore, I'm turning it over to you for suggestions. I just finished this new collage (its 12"x36" if the dimensions matter to you) and I need your creativity in coming up with a title!

"Panes" (2009) 12"x36".

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