Figurative
Alternate Reality
Acrylic on Wood - 36" x 36"
Acrylic on Wood - 36" x 36"
Girl's Club
Oil on wood - 24" x 24"
Oil on wood - 24" x 24"
Lifecycle I
Oil on canvas - 40" x 30"
Oil on canvas - 40" x 30"
Lifecycle II
Oil on wood - 8" x 24"
Oil on wood - 8" x 24"
Lifecycle III
Oil on Wood - 8" x 16"
Oil on Wood - 8" x 16"
Lifecycle IV
Oil on canvas - 24" x 18"
Oil on canvas - 24" x 18"
Pride
Oil on canvas - 18" x 24"
Oil on canvas - 18" x 24"
Unicorn
Oil on canvas - 48" x 36"
Oil on canvas - 48" x 36"
The Choice
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'The Choice' - Diptych. Oil on canvas 16'' x 20".
This diptych is based on an essay, 'Art and Social Change', by the artist and reflects the theme of a gallery exhibit, 'Dying of Romanticism', metaphor for “stifling of the soul in quest of the Romantic ideal”. This visual interpretation highlights the paradox of a movement called the 'Romantic Era', that occurred in Europe between late 18th and early 19th Centuries, in which artists broke away from the church and aristocracy to create what they wanted, rather than what they were told by the wealthy to create. Artists needed to share their resources and help the less fortunate so that all, including poets, writers, painters, musical composers and architects could participate in the movement.
The essay concluded that the Romantic movement has had no equal in its influence on the social and political evolution of the West. At the heart of Romanticism was emotional fulfillment, carrying with it empathy for one’s fellow man and rejection of artificial materialist ideals. Paradoxically, the changes brought about by Romanticism have fostered the same evils it sought to cure. Many members of today’s society lack the empathy so highly valued by the Romantics, and hold as an ideal the same materialism that the Romantics sought to avoid.
In the first part of the diptych today’s popular ideal of a 'Castle in the Sky', that shuts out the less fortunate, is depicted. However, the price of attaining this dream is suffocation of the soul that is brought about by self-serving to the exclusion of others. In the second part of the diptych, the image of the Dalai Lama, a leading advocate of compassion, is depicted wearing the Sanskrit mantra recited by Buddhist Monks to develop compassion, while turning his back to the 'Castle in the Sky'. This work proposes compassion as an alternative to a 'Castle in the Sky', as the path toward revival and fulfillment of the soul. Therefore, it offers a choice of self-gratification that depletes the soul, or compassion that renders it full.