David Lee Holcomb · Art & Artifice

"Georges et Madeleine"
2019, acrylic and cut painted paper on canvas, 18 x 24 inches (45 x 60 cm).

This picture combines linear geometric architectural forms with free-flowing impressionistic patterns. The look is sharp and clear, but at the time opulent and luxurious.

The title refers to artist Georges-Pierre Seurat and his mistress, Madeleine Knobloch.

"Boogie Stop Shuffle"
2019, acrylic and cut painted paper on canvas, 16 x 20 inches (40 x 50 cm).

This picture is inspired by the music of jazz bassist Charles Mingus. I've used contrasting forms (fluid vs angular) layered into the image to convey the feeling of complex rhythms folding into one another through time.

I consider this a painting, even though much of the surface is collaged paper, because the paper is painted first, then cut, then collaged into the surface, sometimes sanded or otherwise distressed to unify or fragment the visual impact, sometimes left sharp and clear. In effect, I'm painting, but the strokes of the brush are first subjected to the knife before being laid onto the canvas.

The layering and distressing of the surface owes something to Mark Bradford, while the use of prepared materials collaged into the painting owes more to Jack Whitten. Overall, however, this painting is about movement and rhythm.

"Minor Disturbance"
2019, acrylic and cut painted paper on canvas, 17.75 x 23 inches (44.5 x 57.5 cm).

The title of this piece comes from a song by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley, released on his 1957 album "Mobley's Message". I've used simple abstract forms in patterns that suggest contrasting rhythms and movement, flowing across and through the composition.

"Stolen Moments"
2018, acrylic and painted paper on canvas, 21 x 33.5 inches (52.5 x 84 cm). SOLD

Based on the jazz classic "Stolen Moments" by saxophonist Oliver Nelson from his 1961 album "The Blues and the Abstract Truth", this picture captures the sweep of Nelson's song, with its strong rhythms and the contrast between the various solos and the relentless movement of the background harmonies.

The picture is painted on "gallery wrapped" back-stapled canvas, and needs no framing. Hanging wire is in place, the picture is ready to hang. The picture is signed and dated on the front; signed, dated, and titled on back.

"Surge"
2018, acrylic and cut paper on canvas, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm). SOLD

Contrasting rhythms sweep and curl across the image space, looping past, into, and over each other. Smaller areas of fragmented lighter color fill the spaces between larger forms like sprays of sparks.

The picture is painted on "gallery wrapped" back-stapled canvas, and needs no framing. Hanging wire is in place, the picture is ready to hang. The picture is signed and dated on the front; signed, dated, and titled on back.

"Cage"
2018, acrylic, paper, and metal foil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm).

A broken cage releases a few drifting feathers, all that remains of the most recent occupant.

Sharply angled parallel lines suggest a rigid restraint, like the bars of a cage, while fluid abstract forms and three-dimensional feathers contradict that constraint.

The picture is painted on "gallery wrapped" back-stapled canvas, and needs no framing. Hanging wire is in place, the picture is ready to hang. The picture is signed and dated on the front; signed, dated, and titled on back.

"Mirage"
2018, acrylic and painted paper on canvas, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm).

This painting suggests summer heat and sunlight, with a suggestion of the deceptive blue shimmer of a mirage defining the horizon.

Layers of collage and paint are used to build up shimmering, transparent images overlaid with the final, solid whirl of hot colors and blue water shapes.

This painting is done on a "gallery-wrapped" canvas, and needs no framing. It is ready to hang; signed and dated on the front, and signed, dated and titled on the back.

"Blue"
2018, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 in (30 x 30 cm).

Inspired by the jazz of such post-bop artists as Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck, this picture tried to capture the sense of smooth, fluid musical rhythms moving across patterns of light and dark, depth and shallows.

The painting was executed on a "gallery-wrapped" back-stapled canvas, and needs no framing. It is ready to hang; signed and dated on the front, signed, dated, and titled on the back.

"Forest Flower"
2018, acrylic and paper (painted in acrylic and then cut) on canvas, 11 x 14 inches (27.5 x 35 cm). SOLD

Inspired by both the playful experiments in color and rhythm of Paul Klee and also the music of jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, this piece distills the feeling of Lloyd's live performance at the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival into patterns of visual movement.

Sheets of newspaper are covered in painterly, impressionistic brushwork, then cut apart into individual "strokes" which can be layered onto the canvas. The overall effect emphasizes rhythm over form, but forms do still suggest themselves.

This piece is executed on a "gallery wrap" back-stapled canvas, requiring no frame, and has hanging hardware in place. The painting is signed and dated on the front, and signed, titled and dated on the back.

"Picnic"
2018, acrylic, latex enamels, cut and painted paper, plaster dust, on canvas, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm).

A festive mixture of fabric patterns, water, and sunlight, this picture is intended to suggest dappled light and fresh air.

This picture is on a deep gallery-wrap canvas, with the image continuing around the sides, and so requires no frame. It does have hanging hardware and it ready to hang.

"Alcyone"
2018, acrylic, latex enamels, cut and painted paper collage on canvas, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

Inspired by the story of Alcyone and Ceyx, who were transformed into seabirds.

The technique layers monochrome grays and whites, with collaged elements providing a low relief pattern, over which fluid repeating elements in stronger colors are added. The overall feel of the piece suggest the fluid surrealism of Andre Masson or Hans Bellmer.

This painting is on a deep gallery-wrapped canvas, requiring no frame. It is ready to hang.

"St Thomas"
2018, acrylic and painted paper on canvas, 24 x 18 inches (60 x 45 cm)

This picture pays homage to the music of tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, and expecially to his great 1956 jazz instrumental of that title.

The painting uses sign-painter's enamels: syrupy, vivid colors applied lavishly to the canvas to create a sense of tropical warmth and liveliness. Finer details are created with collaged paper, painted, textured, and cut to create a flow of lyrical linear forms that move across the image.

This painting is left unframed to display the edge of the gallery-wrapped canvas, which has the artwork continuing all the way around the edge; it has hanging hardware and is ready to hang.

"Signal to Noise"
2018, acrylic and painted paper on wood, 16 x 16 inches (40 x 40 cm)

Lyrical currents of cool blues move across the panel, fading in and out of a chaotic neutral monochrome background, suggesting the way we hear music over the noise of everyday life.

The technique here, of collage and decollage, in which collage elements are glued down and then sanded or scraped away, layer by layer, owes a great deal to the example of Mark Bradford and Jack Whitten. There is also a strong influence of Paul Klee, who often used ideas from music -- rhythm, repetition, harmony -- as a basis for visual communication.

"Ophelia"
2018, acrylic on wood, 18 x 24 in (45 x 60 cm)

In William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet", Ophelia, the sister of the central character, slowly goes mad and eventually drowns herself. I've presented this tragedy in an oblique and allusive way, presenting the gentle, sunlit water with only a suggestion of hair or fabric darkening the currents.

Although the hard edges and abstract forms in the picture's foreground suggest modernity, I've used an impressionistic approach to the water itself, with brushwork in greens and warm reds suggesting water plants or reflections.

The style of the painting suggests the landscapes of impressionist painters such as Monet or Renoir, but also the more subjective interpretation of the narrative that might have suited Matisse.

"Scheherazade"
2018, acrylic & cut paper on MDF, 18 x 20 in (45 x 50 cm)

The title of this painting comes from the "Thousand and One Nights Entertainment", otherwise known as the Arabian Nights. Scheherazade is the woman telling the stories, leaving each story unfinished each day to keep her listener coming back for more.

The newspaper fragments that make up the background of this painting are taken from the legal pages of the local paper: cryptic announcements of divorces, inheritances, bankruptcies, etc. -- in other words, unfinished stories of life and death.

The technique is collage and decollage: painted and cut fragments of paper are layered onto the surface then partially covered with an abrasive spackling material, sanded, and sealed. The layering and sanding is repeated several times, building up a nuanced and unified surface.

"Talktalktalk"
2018, acrylic & cut paper on MDF, 12 x 12 in (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

Word fragments fly in vaporous clouds over an austere urban landscape.

This painting is sealed with an acrylic polymer, framed, and ready to hang.

"Untitled (Trees)"
2018, acrylic & cut paper on MDF, 12 x 12 in (30 x 30 cm)

Inspired by the hilly landscapes around my home, especially a small copse of angular, straight, young trees near my house. Over a freely-brushed acrylic background, painted paper (newspaper, kraft paper, and maps) is torn or cut and pasted into place to create the forms.

This painting is sealed with an acrylic polymer, framed, and ready to hang.

"Bessemer Jack (Ascends to Heaven)"
2018, acrylic & cut paper on canvas, 16 x 20 inches (40 x 50 cm) SOLD

This piece is a tribute to the work of artist Jack Whitten, who died in January of this year.

Newspaper pages are painted in a variety of colors, then cut into small shapes and glued over a background of grays and black. The "tesserae" are layered, sanded, and in some places overlaid with a thick covering of tinted gesso, which is then sanded away to reveal the underlying layers.

"From the Faithless Time"
2018, acrylic & cut paper on canvas, 24 x 30 in (60 x 75 cm)

The title comes from the the closing lines of the poem "Santorini" by George Seferis, whose title refers to the volcano that brought about the end of the great Minoan empire:

"... allow your hand, if you can, to travel
free yourself from the faithless time
and sink,
sink whoever raises the great stones."

(From "Santorini", George Seferis, 1935; English translation by Keeley and Sherrard, 1964)

Painted paper is cut and collaged over a background of grays; the birds are cut from old map pages and painted and pasted down. The entire painting is sprayed lightly with a UV protectant and sealed with several thin layers of acrylic polymer medium. This painting is framed and ready to hang.

"Maiden Voyage"
2017, acrylic & cut paper on canvas, 20 x 20 inches (50 x 50 cm)

Inspired by jazz and by the idea of travel and exploration, this painting features lyrical, flowing figures in gray-blue, sky-blue, dark blue, purple, apple-green, yellow and red, flowing across a field of densely textured and angular layered grays and blues. A scatter of map fragments flows in a diagonal curve across the image, adding a literal touch.

The title comes from a 1965 album by pianist Herbie Hancock called "Maiden Voyage".

"Black Willow"
2017, acrylic & cut paper on canvas, 18 x 24 inches (45 x 60 cm) SOLD

The black willow, a common tree throughout the eastern half of north America, is something of an icon for me, evoking water, filtered sunlight, the gentle sounds and the flickering shadows of the riverbanks and fishing holes of my rural childhood. While the willow is a very real part of my personal landscape, it's also a tree that lives in folklore and literature (most notably in the exhilarating and terrifying story by Algernon Blackwood, titled simply "The Willows"). Rather than depict any single visual scene or personal recollection, I've attempted to convey this complex layering of memory, sensation, and fantasy.

While this picture might properly be categorized as a collage, I think of it more as a painting, in which the paint was applied to various papers and then layered into the final composition; in other words, the fragments cut from the colored surfaces and applied to the panel are my "brushstrokes".

As is often the case, my basic approach was inspired by the example of Paul Klee, with his adventurous use of materials and his profound sense of play. This particular work also draws from the organic pictorial language of Rex Ray, with a nod to the geometry and sense of illusory depth in the work of Irene Rice-Pereira.

"Jump"
2017, acrylic & cut paper on canvas, 24 x 28 inches (60 x 70 cm)

Colored translucent tissue and painted paper are cut and layered with transparent acrylic over a broadly-brushed background of yellows and blues to create a dancing, energetic surface, suggesting sunshine, sky and springtime.

Although the color philosophy of Paul Klee is very much a part of this work, the style and technique are more closely tied to the improvisational approach of jazz. Visual rhythms overlap and flow through and past each other like the sounds of the various musicians in a jazz combo.

"CloudSkyCry"
2017, acrylic & cut paper on canvas, 22 x 28 inches (55 x 70 cm) SOLD

In this picture I wanted to address a complex emotional state without giving way to sentimentality or hyperbole: the feeling is both melancholy (the rigid grids of gray and beige in the background) and also hopeful (the fluid blue and white shapes in the foreground). I used cut paper as a medium because of its ability to limit expression: the "message" is more focused, brushwork and palette are not a distraction. The surface is built up in layers, some sanded and polished, some left as is, to create depth and space, and the cut paper provides the surface with a tactility and texture that is unique to collage -- the viewer feels compelled to touch, as well as look.

"Charlotte Corday"
2016, ink and acrylic on MDF, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

Inspired by the famous painting by Jacques-Louis David "The Death of Marat", this drawing refers to Charlotte Corday, the young woman who stabbed Marat to death in his bath as he was writing out his plans for what would come to be known as the Terror, in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Corday's act was inspired by her desire to free her country from the threat of a new tyranny that she believed Marat represented.

My use of an eagle's feathers relates to the quill pen that Marat was writing with at the time of his death, and to the idea of freedom represented by the bird's power of flight. Corday, at her trial and execution, was unrepentant, saying that she "killed one man to save a hundred thousand".

"Age of Anxiety"
2016, ink and acrylic on MDF, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

In a time of political, social and cultural uncertainty, the artist has to struggle to find ways to convey his feelings visually, in simple images that will cross boundaries and barriers of language and geography.

"Unwritten Language"
2016, ink and acrylic on MDF, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

The passage of time, mortality, the ephemeral nature of organic life are all here, but also the durable nature of beauty, which changes with the season but does not vanish.

The panel is sealed and painted with several layers of dove-gray acrylic, shading to an off-white toward the center; this is sanded and polished smooth, then sealed again and serves as a substrate for a detailed pen-and-ink drawing of fallen leaves, executed in a dense cross-hatch technique. Selected areas of the image are lightened with white chalk or light acrylic, then the entire image is sealed with a light dusting of UV protectant acrylic polymer varnish.

"La belle au bois dormant"
2016, mixed media, 8 x 10 x 2 inches (20 x 25 x 5 cm) SOLD

The box is hand-made of MDF, cut, painted, and collaged. The contents are cardboard, cut, painted and mounted into the box, with a dried, varnished and painted butterfly and several rose stems, painted in shades of gray with metallic copper paint on the thorns. (I didn't harm the butterfly, by the way: a friend found it already dead and quite dry, and I sealed it with several extremely thin layers of varnish and then dry-brushed passages of yellow on the wings.)

"The Days Between"
2016, acrylic & cut paper on canvas, 20 x 16 inches (50 x 40 cm)

A combination of geometric and organic forms cut from painting paper are layered into a background of acrylic (some of the paint amended with plaster dust) sanded and varnished between layers to create an illusion of depth and transparency. The forms loop and scatter across the canvas, gathering in places to create small "scenes", groupings of forms that see to imply some further meaning or image, while a single pale structure wanders across the entire image, like a rope, or a river, or a sequence of moments.

"Lion of the Harvest"
2016, acrylic & cut paper on wood, 24 x 30 inches (60 x 75 cm)

Torn paper is embedded in a matrix of acrylic and plaster, then sanded, to create the large pale "ground" area. Into this are collaged small elements cut from painted paper, which are then plastered and sanded in stages, so that some elements are almost obliterated, while others remain clearly visible. On the upper "sky" area, map pages, painted and cut in fluid forms, are collaged into a subtly layered background of greens, yellows and blues.

"Hymn"
2016, acrylic & cut paper on wood, 16 x 16 inches (40 x 40 cm)

Many disparate voices flow together to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Cut and painted paper is layered with acrylic and plaster; some layers are sanded to partially reveal the layers beneath, others are left intact, providing an illusion of depth and movement in space. The final image is varnished with a high-gloss UV protectant acrylic polymer varnish to preserve the richness of the color.

"Armored for Delight"
2016, acrylic & cut paper on wood, 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm)

Superimposed grids of bright squares in ochre, white, yellow, and orange create a shimmering field of light. Here and there are visible areas of green, blue and dark gray, suggesting foliage in sunlight. Although the painting is abstract, the effect suggests an impressionist landscape.

"Nursery Rhyme"
2016, acrylic & cut paper on wood, 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm) SOLD

The purpose of a nursery rhyme, beneath its bright and benevolent exterior, is to translate the chaos and confusion of life into a narrative comprehensible to the mind of a child. This painting, like a child's poem, is built up in layers, each layer amplifying and altering the ones above and beneath it. The simplicity of the individual layers belies the complexity of the collective image.

"Mantis"
2016, acrylic & cut paper on wood, 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm)

A bit of whimsy in the tradition of Paul Klee: a praying mantis stares out at the viewer from her garden habitat.

Paper, paint and thinned plaster are layered, sanded, and varnished, over and over, building up the image step by step in thin layers, some transparent, some partly opaque.

"An Agreeable Virginity"
2015, acrylic, latex enamel, oil pastel, paper, ink on fiberboard, 18 x 24 inches (45 x 60 cm)

We can choose to remain comfortably "innocent" of experience, and all the pain and confusion that goes with it, yet in the end find ourselves more tightly bound than we might have been had we risked everything when the opportunity presented itself. If Adam and Eve hadn't bitten into the apple, they would have simply remained idle prisoners of the garden forever.

"The Long King"
2015, acrylic, ink, white pastel on fiberboard, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

The "king" of the title is a kingsnake, the "farmer's friend" of the rural United States.

The panel is first prepared with white latex enamel, then a rough surface of black acrylic and plaster dust, then sanded to allow the light undercoat to show through the distressed black layer. Onto this, in black ink and thinned white acrylic, a pattern of angular fragments is created, using fine hatchwork to provide tone.

"Blackjack"
2015, acrylic, ink, white pastel on fiberboard, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

A crow flies through a prismatic sky.

The panel is first prepared with white latex enamel, then a rough surface of black acrylic and plaster dust, then sanded to allow the light undercoat to show through the distressed black layer. Onto this, in black ink and thinned white acrylic, a pattern of angular fragments is created, using fine hatchwork to provide tone.

"The Broken Queen"
2015, acrylic, ink, white pastel on fiberboard, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

A butterfly (a female of the species Danaus plexippus, the Monarch Butterfly) appears to the viewer as though in a fragmented mirror, the graceful and complex pattern of the wings broken into facets and isolated pieces.

The panel is first prepared with white latex enamel, then a rough surface of black acrylic and plaster dust, then sanded to allow the light undercoat to show through the distressed black layer. Onto this, in black ink and thinned white acrylic, a pattern of angular fragments -- some displaying bits of the butterfly's wings -- is created, using fine hatchwork to provide tone.

"A Handful of Moments"
2015, acrylic on fiberboard, 16 x 16 inches (40 x 40 cm) SOLD

A ghostly chain passes through a man's hands, flowing like water between his fingers. The mysterious object seems to respond to the touch, yet is still somehow unreal, remote -- untouchable.

"The Family Ghost"
2015, acrylic on plywood, 24 x 18 inches (60 x 45 cm) SOLD

Every family has its ghosts.

This painting relies on only Payne's Gray and Titanium White, the monochrome effect emphasizing the sense that the figure is not quite real, transparent to his background.

"Applause"
2015, ink and paper on fiberboard, 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm) SOLD

This piece is about performance and the response to performance. As a visual artist, my need for feedback is no different from that of a musician or a stand-up comedian — we are all exposing ourselves to public view and criticism, and we all hope for applause.

(The music, by the way, is from Mozart, the Clarinet Concerto in A Major, which I played in a previous stage in my life.)

"Never the Words"
2015, ink and paper on fiberboard, 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm) SOLD

Although the eyes may be the "mirror to the soul", the hands are often even more expressive.

Pen and ink hatching is used to create tone and a sense of solidity, while a heavy outline preserves broader rhythms and gesture. Pages from damaged or weathered books are collaged into the negative space, reinforcing the idea of self-expression.

The paper collage areas are sealed and varnished lightly with a UV-protectant finish to halt further weathering and discoloration, while the ink areas are left unvarnished.

"Rest"
2015, acrylic on fiberboard, 16 x 16 inches (40 x 40 cm) SOLD

One of a series of monochrome images focusing on the model's hands and posture to communicate an emotional state. Color is limited to one dark color (in this case a mixture of chromium oxide green, burnt umber, and Payne's gray) and one white, and only one brush is used throughout (in this case a 7mm round synthetic bristle brush.)

This piece might be considered a companion to my paintings "Breathe" and "Stand".

"Stand"
2015, acrylic on fiberboard, 16 x 16 inches (40 x 40 cm)

The word "stand" can have several meanings: as a noun it can mean an ethical or political position; as a verb it can imply resistance or rebellion, or it can simply refer to the act of remaining in place. This painting leaves itself open to any of those interpretations.

In this piece I relied on only a single dark color (burnt umber mixed with Payne's gray) and white. Subtleties of tone and shading are all achieved within that extremely limited palette.

This piece might be considered a companion to my paintings "Breathe" and "Rest".

"Breathe"
2015, acrylic on fiberboard, 16 x 16 inches (40 x 40 cm)

A figure teeters against a blue sky, standing at a precarious angle, in an awkward and uncomfortable pose. The person in the image could be a child, but might also be an adult -- even the gender is unclear. The pose appears restrictive and uncomfortable, but the discomfort is self-imposed, part of an interaction taking place between the figure in the image and the spectator, while the wide-open sky defies any suggestion of enclosure or restraint.

The painting relies on only two colors, Payne's gray and titanium white -- again demonstrating a sense of restriction -- while the invisible horizon and the skewed viewpoint contribute both a sense of unresolved conflict and of free movement in space, the impression of freedom reinforced by the loose, flexible brushwork and visible traces of a rough charcoal preliminary sketch.

This piece might be considered a companion to my paintings "Stand" and "Rest".

"The Centaur's Shirt"
2015, acrylic, paper and metal button on fiberboard, 16 x 16 inches (40 x 40 cm)

The title comes from the Greek myth of Herakles (Hercules). A centaur named Nessus attempted to rape Deianira, the wife of Herakles, and was mortally wounded by the hero. Dying, Nessus convinced the beautiful but insecure Deianira that Herakles would never turn to another woman if she gave him a shirt dipped in the centaur's blood. She did as he advised, but the touch of the shirt plunged Herakles was into such terrible agony that he flung himself on a bonfire and was killed. His father Zeus, taking pity on his son, placed his spirit in the sky as the constellation that bears his name.

Cut paper, including slices of book pages, are layered with acrylic in black, blue, yellow and white and sanded down, then a pattern of fine lines in thinned acrylic is used to create a flowing shape like fabric, threaded into and around the paper forms. A small gold and black metal button suggests the sun, or perhaps an eye.

The area of black in the lower left was built up by successive layers of red, blue-gray, orange, yellow, iron-oxide red, and dark gray, each layer scraped with a wire brush when dry, before receiving the next layer, to create a matte blue-black surface contrasting with the pale forms in the rest of the painting.

"The Rose of Strange Places"
2015, acrylic and paper on fiberboard, 24 x 30 inches (60 x 75 cm)

A fantastic landscape of crystalline structures, folded space, and filigree clouds is dominated by a single rose, the one stable object in the chaos. There is an atmosphere of alchemy and transformation.

Acrylic paint and plaster dust are layered with broad curves of cut paper in natural brown and moss green, then sanded. This process is repeated to create a complex and ambiguous surface. On this surface -- and re-establishing its flatness -- are filigree patterns in white, off-white, gray and green, suggesting clouds.

"In the Garden at the No-Tell Motel"
2015, acrylic and collage on fiberboard, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm)

A festive -- even perhaps somewhat frantic -- atmosphere prevails at the motel where four out of five visitors is named "John Smith", and nobody ever seems to have any luggage when they check in.

A rough and brushy base of gray, yellow and ochre is overlaid with an assortment of large cut paper pieces in gray-green, off-white, and yellow. On top of this is arranged fragments of photographs, bits of road maps of the American midwest, and fragments of colored paper, all woven together with a filigree of fine "doodles" in white, off-white and gray.

"The First to Speak"
2015, acrylic and paper on wood, 18 x 24 inches (45 x 60 cm) SOLD

This piece illustrates the basic conflict between the rational, structured, Apollonian side of the human indentity and the wild, disorganized, Dionysian side. Out of this struggle comes our need to communicate, and the words we use to do it.

The plywood panel is gessoed and sealed, then painted with a rough collision of dark, cool blues, apple green, and a dark, muddy red. Different thicknesses of paper, in shades of dark gray-green, brown, white, and beige are cut into a variety of shapes -- some geometric, some organic -- and layered with more thinned paint, then sanded to allow suggestions of the underlying surfaces to ghost through. The final layer is sanded smooth and finished with a light coat of UV-protectant varnish.

"The Burden of Our Names"
2015, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 inches (40 x 50 cm)

The child seems calm and unharmed, yet he is voiceless and alone, standing outside the home, excluded from the room we barely glimpse through the window behind him. What is the narrative, the story that he cannot tell?

The painting is on triple-primed cotton duck canvas, stretched on standard 3/4" depth stretcher bars, framed in a wood “floater” frame, ready to hang; it is signed and dated both front and back, with title on back.

"The Upper Pasture"
2015, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches (50 x 40 cm) SOLD

A lone figure walks a familiar path up toward sunlit fields and woods. Overhead hot, turbulent clouds build toward sunset, and along the path the late-summer weeds and grass turn yellow in the hazy afternoon light. (This painting is built on recollections of my childhood in rural Alabama during the mid-1960s.)

The painting is on triple-primed cotton duck canvas, stretched on standard 3/4" depth stretcher bars, framed in a wood “floater” frame, ready to hang; it is signed and dated both front and back, with title on back.

"Break of Day"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood, 20 x 24 inches (50 x 60 cm) SOLD

Multiple layers of paper and paint create rhythms suggesting the light and sounds of a summer morning.

"Migratory"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood, 24 x 28 inches (60 x 70 cm)

Acrylic paint, plaster, and cut paper (newsprint, kraft, tissue, maps) are layered and sanded smooth.

Invisible currents drive streaming forms -- some flame-shaped, some birdlike -- through a turbulent blue skyscape.

"Voyeur"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood, 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm)

Paint amended with plaster dust is interwoven with cut paper, each layer sanded smooth before the next is applied.

"Voyeur", from the French, one who views or inspects. In its modern interpretation, the word often refers to someone who closely -- even obsessively -- observes the most intimate lives of the people around him, but without a personal connection or emotional engagement.

"No One Lives Here Now"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) SOLD

Light and shadow reflect and rebound across half-glimpsed structures and geometric forms distorted as if by time and weather. Paint, paper, and plaster are layered and scraped away, allowing a succession of transparent images to build upon one another.

"Someone On The Train"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood, 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm)

Evanescent reflections overlay a rushing landscape to create half-glimpsed images and a sense of open, ambigious space. Paint, paper, and plaster are layered and then selectively scraped away, allowing a succession of transparent rhythms of color and form to build upon one another.

"Oracle"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood, 24 x 30 inches (60 x 75 cm) SOLD

An oracle is one who sees through the gaps in reality to deeper meanings beneath. Sometimes the knowledge can be communicated, sometimes it is too complex, too personal, to fit into words.

In this painting warm and cold, life and death, press toward center, each seeking dominance, but the stress of conflict opens a gap through which pours light, holding both sides at bay.

Paper, paint and plaster have been applied in accordance with specific visual rhythms then sanded away, layer upon layer, to create a illusory space of enormous depth; a tracery of fine arabesques in white, black and bistre contradict this illusion by emphasizing the surface of the panel. Meanwhile the tormented vertical area near the center of the picture crumples and tears open both the deep space and the flat surface, suggesting that both may be only illusions.

"Sleep's Candle"
2015, acrylic and papier collé on fiberboard, 20 x 20 inches (50 x 50 cm) SOLD

"Wren"
2015, acrylic and cut paper on plywood. 16 x 20 inches (40 x 50 cm) SOLD

Gray acrylic is layered with thin coats of plaster and forms cut from paper, then sanded, each layer of plaster and paper varnished before the next is applied. The result is a shimmering surface, like morning sunlight through foliage. A wren, also built out of layers of cut paper, perches among the leaves.

"Orithyia"
2015, acrylic on plywood. 18 x 24 inches (45 x 60 cm) SOLD

In classical Greek myth, the rough north wind Boreas took a fancy to a woman named Orithyia; when his courtship proved ineffective, he simply swept her away. She became the mother of his two sons, the winged heroes Calais and Zetes who accompanied Jason on the Quest of the Golden Fleece.

The paint is layered repeatedly with thin coats of plaster and then sanded to create the transparent veils of white, blue, ochre and pink ; a frantic web of agitated linear forms are grasped by that cold, cloudy background, as if being engulfed.

"Highland Avenue, 1983"
2014, acrylic, watercolor & latex enamels on fiberboard, 20 x 12 in (50 x 30 cm)

The title refers to a street in Birmingham, Alabama, that runs through an area of town that was near and dear to my heart for ten years or so during the 1980s, but I think the piece speaks to the kaleidoscope of memory that we all carry within us, regardless of where we we've been or where we're going.

"Sleeping in the General's House"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood, 24 x 28 in (60 x 70 cm)

Over a background of soft, hot colors layered with gray, flat geometric forms and energetic "painterly" elements are bound together by a scaffolding of pure white frames. Chaos and order, held together by a fragile system.

"Nightfall"
2013, acrylic on plywood panel with collaged newspaper, 20 x 20 in (50 x 50 cm) SOLD

Paper, gesso, glue, sand and acrylic are layered, sanded, and layered again to build up a background filled with detail and texture. Over this background, and interacting with it, are the sun, moon and stars and a forest of silent trees.

"Philodendron"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood. 28 x 24 inches (70 x 60 cm) SOLD

A large tropical plant decorates a cool, bright interior as the summer sun blazes outside the window.

This piece evokes the French sensibilities of Matisse, Braque or Dufy with the cheerful, simple organic forms, but overlays those forms on a complex, multilayered surface of cool colors and ambigious, barely-glimpsed shapes and gestures, suggesting the shifting patterns of fabric, light and shadow, and movement elsewhere in the space.

"The Uninvited Guest"
2015, conté crayon over acrylic on paper, mounted on plywood. 24 x 28 inches (60 x 70 cm)

Although technically an outdoor scene, the image is packed with activity as vegetable forms jostle and crowd into a space limited by the painted surface of the paper. Colors are restricted, soft and unobstrusive, allowing the rhythms of line and subtle shading to dominate the shallow space.

"Metropolis"
2015, acrylic & papier collé, 24 x 28 in (60 x 70 cm) SOLD

In a limited, Cubist-inspired palette of grays, browns, black and white, muscular mechanical forms act out a dance of rotation and leverage, working both with and against each other in a shallow, smoky space. Surfaces appear both transparent and gritty, and light and shadow glint off edges and across curves. Parts of the image have been sanded to reinforce the surface, while elsewhere shadows seem to recede into illusionary depths.

"Jaguar"
2015, acrylic & papier collé, 20 x 24 in (50 x 60 cm) SOLD

(Alternative title is "Tezcatlipoca, the Smoking Mirror".)

Gypsum and washes of acrylic are layered and sanded through several cycles to create a scratched and energetic surface, on which large brushstrokes of strong, warm colors serve as forms. The brushstrokes are themselves layered with colored paper (from magazine photographs) cut into forms mirroring the brushstroke shapes. A scattering of sinuous lines and circles serve to reinforce overall rhythms.

The resulting image has the feel of the hieratic and monumental constructions of Aztec and Mayan fresco and bas-relief, while the colors are evocative of tropical fabrics, flowers, and light. Gestural swirls and curves float above the main form, suggesting movement and rhythm within the dark, earthy space.

"Summer Music"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on plywood, 20 x 24 in (50 x 60 cm) SOLD

I prepped the panel for this one by throwing handfuls of coffee grounds on it and then leaving it in the snow all through an episode of foul weather. Once the sun came out and the snow had melted and the panel had dried, I sanded away the coffee and layered paint, gypsum, and cut paper to create the image, one layer at a time.

The image is layered within a shallow interior space, the forms suggesting a casual arrangment items on a tabletop. The air that moves through the forms is cool, but tropical; a blue sky is barely suggested outside the shuttered window.

"Refuge"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on fiberboard, 16 x 16 in (40 x 40 cm)

Tall, simple geometric forms, in a strictly limited palette, jostle and float in a soft, dim space, pressed and confined by a sweep of white like a puff of wind or a magnetic field; meanwhile a single patch of brushwork in red and yellow huddles within a tiny protecting frame, as if sheltering from the activity that dominates the scene.

"Farmhouse"
2015, acrylic on wood, 16 x 16 inches (40 x 40 cm) SOLD

High clouds filter the midday sun as it shines on an old farmhouse.

"Mister Brown's Cedars"
2015, acrylic on fiberboard, 16 x 16 in (40 x 40 cm) SOLD

"Still Life with Fruit"
2015, acrylic & papier collé on fiberboard, 12 x 9 in (30 x 22.5 cm)

"Sargasso"
2013/2015, acrylic on wood, 24 x 18 inches (60 x 45 cm) SOLD

Some landscapes, both internal and external, are anything but neat. Here, ambiguous creatures swim and swirl in a cloud of vivid and half-glimpsed life, a reflection of the cluttered sea that is every human mind.

"The Library Bird"
2013, mixed media, 7.75 x 9 x 2 in (19.5 x 22.5 x 5 cm) SOLD

Fragments of book pages organize themselves within the frame to create the Library Bird, flying within a space filled with words against a deep blue sky.

"Mirror of Delirium"
2015, acrylic and pastel on plywood, 20 x 24 in (50 x 60 cm) SOLD

"Liberator"
2015, mixed media, 16 x 16 x 2 inches (40 x 40 x 5 cm) SOLD

Sticks and stones, paper, steel chains, eggshell and feather, acrylic, wood. The barricades I build to keep you out are the walls of the cell that holds me prisoner.

"Gnosis"
2013, mixed media, 12.5 x 15.5 x 1.75 inches (31 x 39 x 4 cm)

The Gnostics of the early centuries of Christianity held to the belief that the path through the divine lay only within the depths of the human mind -- the word "gnosis" refers to that knowledge found through introspection and self-awareness.

"The Dialogue of the Bird and the Fish"
2014, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 in (40 x 50 cm) SOLD

Paired opposites converse: bird and fish, cool and warm, blue and yellow, sharp line and misty surface, point and plane.

"Eden"
2013, acrylic on masonite, 23 x 17 in (57.5 x 42.5 cm)

The garden's most infamous occupant explores his world.

"Glimpse"
2014, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 in (40 x 50 cm)

The cold mists of winter conceal and reveal signs of life among the trees.

"Woodsmoke"
2015, acrylic on wood, 20 x 20 inches (50 x 50 cm)

Smoke rises over the hills on a cold winter morning.

Acrylic in warm browns and greens is layered with cold whites and blues to create an angular background suggestive of broken landscape under sharp winter light. Over this is constructed mesh-like forms of white and brown enamels whose scaffolding supports transparent washes of sky-blue, ochre, yellow, and moss green.

"Psychopomp"
2013, acrylic on fiberboard, 18 x 24 in (45 x 60 cm)

The "psychopomp", or spirit guide, who supports and instructs the spirits of the newly dead, occurs in many cultures and in many religions. In classical Greek myth, it was Hermes who guided the spirits of the dead; in Egypt it was jackal-headed Anubis; for the Aztecs is was dog-headed Xolotl, the god of lightning; in voodoo, it's dapper, rum-drinking Papa Ghede. The psychopomp could also take the form of an animal, such as the whippoorwill in rural America, or the vulture in Zoroastrianism; in many parts of Europe, it is the owl who calls out the spirit and leads it to its final home.

"Skein"
2015, acrylic on fiberboard, 12 x 20 in (30 x 50 cm)

The word "skein" has several uses: a length of yarn or other fiber, a shred of wind-torn cloud, a flock of geese in flight, among others. The one thing all of the definitions have in common is the idea of something stretched across open space.

"Cities of the Interior"
2015, mixed media, 16 x 16 x 1.75 inches (40 x 40 x 4 cm)

Wood, string, acrylic paint, dried flowers, broken glass, yellowjacket, milkweed pod, silver ring, glass marble, cardboard, woodbriar, on fiberboard. The title comes from the work of Cuban-French author Anaïs Nin.

"Ravell'd"
2014, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 in (40 x 50 cm) SOLD

The title here comes from Shakespeare's "Macbeth", when the title character complains that he can no longer sleep, through the guilt of having committed murder: "... the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care ..."