All paintings are fresco secco and suspended pigment on canvas.
Biological Anthropology
Biological Anthropology concerns the evolution of man and his biological and behavioral aspects. The paintings within this oeuvre incorporate archeological symbols: images from art history and the collective unconscious, as a reminder of material culture connecting with our roots: the ancestral footstep walking behind us. The social implications of biological science and technology are central to the vision of my painting..
Multi-faceted images, askewed landscapes and decomposing grids, disturbed networks, ancient symbols and cell structure forms – collide and float and come at you from all directions suggesting a chaotic shifting of the earth’s and the bodies’ ecology. Both positive and negative organic forms are employed representing disparity in our ecology and our psyche.
Holding a metaphysical meaning, the collection of icons comes from a personal archive of long developed images: references from lost civilizations. The cell forms and synapse drawings refer to Ramon Cajals’ drawings of the brain among other references.
Hidden Bird Paintings
The HIDDEN BIRD PAINTINGS are a reminder of a long history of birds on our planet. Much of our bird population has been extirpated from their original locals and some have become threatened by extinction.
I return to my old love of Roman Painting, specifically the garden and the culture of the bird in Roman Garden Frescoes. The icons in the series are part of an archetypal catalogue of symbols I have collected and developed. “IN FLIGHT” the song thrush (Turdus Philomelos) is from the House of Venus Marina in Pompeii. Wealthy Romans had painted rooms (trompe l’oeil) to adorn their spaces. The garden frescoes created an eternal and unchanging image of spring and summer thus bringing the outside in and creating the light of summer. The House of Livia in Prima Porta provides further bird references exhibiting many birds in garden landscapes. The House was built for Livia, the wife of Augustus. 39 BCE. Our Song Thrush population is not endangered yet.
“HORUS I” – Horus, the Egyptian Deity of the sky, his eye offers protection. Horus is a Lanner falcon (Falco Peregrinus). They are threatened by the alteration of their habitat, electrocution and poisoning. The European population is facing a decline. My reference is from the statue of Horace at the Temple of Edfu, Egypt – 237- 57 BCE
“RED IBIS” – The African Sacred Ibis – (Threskiornis ) the bird has been extirpated from Egypt due to toxins, DDT, and habitat destruction. In Egyptian mythology the God Thoth is the sacred African Black headed Ibis. My reference is from a Ptolemaic statue of an Ibis 300 BCE
“MINOAN BLUEBIRD “ – ( Sialia Passerines) : a type of thrush. The reference is from an image of a bluebird painted on the wall of the Palace of Knossos, Crete 1,600-1,000 BCE
“CORONA 27: MINOAN LEAF” – The image of a bird claw is located on the bottom right of this painting. Made of carved mica, the reference is from The Serpent
Mound in Ohio, Adena Culture, 500 BCE – 200 AD
