SOLD

Oil on French Linen and keyed stretcher
Hand finished Italian frame
Conservation mounted
Image size 25 x 21  
Frame size 33 x 29

 There are two common stories centered on Cephalus.  One is an extended and somewhat convoluted play by Niccolo da Correggio based on Ovid’s text and of course the other is the myth itself.  The artwork concerns itself with the original Greek myth.  Aurora, goddess of the dawn and sister to Helios, fell in love with the handsome mortal youth Cephalus.  This infatuation became even more ardent as Cephalus spurned the goddess and the despondent Aurora began to ignore her task of leading Helios through the sky.  In order to avoid chaos, Cupid shot Cephalus with one of his arrows and Aurora’s love was returned.

 It is the central part of the story that is illustrated here, albeit in a highly stylized form.  To further emphasize that stylized quality the entire painting has a cool crystalline aesthetic that is appropriate to dawn and calculated to heighten the form of Cephalus.  The young shepherd has just awoke and in symbolic fashion is throwing off the covers of sleep and exposing himself, one senses, in a rather coy way to the appreciative view of Aurora.  In keeping with a motif that runs through several of my interpretations of myths, a highly decorative disc represents the goddess Aurora.  This device enhances what is a subtle tension in the picture in which soft forms and cool colors contrast with emblematic form of the dawn.  Another very subtle device for following the story without becoming too literal is the choice to have the Dawn in the form of the disc virtually jump the horizon and appear to crowd the space of Cephalus, figuratively abandoning her duties as the guide for Helios.  These devices as well as the multiple technical effects like the glazing in the figure matched with the flat impasto of the sky make what is a subtly complicated story very aesthetically appealing.

SOLD

Oil on wood panel
Hand finished Italian frame
Conservation mounted
Image size 12 x 16    
Frame size 20 x 24

This version of Danae developed very early in the planning stages for the show “Feathers and Fate: Mortals in Mythology.”  It was important to me to concentrate all the emphasis on the mortal form of the recumbent female, thus the only allusion to Jupiter as he descends on Danae to seduce her, is the glowing light in the background.  The story of Jupiter’s seduction of Danae is not commonly known, but the main points are as follows.  In order to visit the young woman who had been hidden away in a tower by her paranoid father, Jupiter transformed himself into a shower of gold.  Many artists focus on the descending shower of gold and the reaction of the young woman who is sometimes accompanied by an older servant.  My concentration, as it has been throughout the “Feathers and Fate” show has been on the mortal and their powerlessness against fate and the whims of the gods.  To further enhance the figure of Danae her form and the shadows are built up in a succession of glazes, each becoming slightly more transparent.  This gives the flesh a nice glow which is then set off against the background light which is a thicker layer of dark paint that has been scratched through with the wood handle of a paint brush to reveal the warm under-painting.  Everything is calculated to lend a simple yet atmospheric quality to the myth.

Oil on French Linen
Hand toned and distressed Italian frame
Image size 24 x 29  
Frame size 32 x 37

Ixion is probably the least known of the four figures customarily depicted as undergoing torture in Tartarus.  For killing his father-in-law and trying to rape Juno, the wife of Jupiter, Ixion was bound for eternity to a flaming and turning wheel.  Incidentally, Jupiter was aware of Ixion’s plan to seduce Juno so the god made an image of his wife out of the clouds and the drunken Ixion embraced that instead.  The offspring of this bizarre union were the Centaurs.

 Sometimes I just can’t help myself.  I have said elsewhere that art is very often an experiment, a chance taken to see what is successful.  This is very much one of those pieces.  I just could not resist attempting something I had been thinking of for some time.  Several years ago I took up watercolor as a means of aiding the spontaneity of my oils.  However, the watercolors developed very nicely on their own and it seemed that the two techniques would stay separate.  However, I could not get the idea of incorporating a fluid method of working in oil.  Ixion is the result of much thought and experimentation, and I feel it is highly successful.  I love having another effect in the repertoire that can be used in varying degrees on other pieces.  Here there is a wonderful transparency in the flesh of Ixion, with subtle colors that blend together as a result of the new glazing method and washing it over a very light and loose sinopia, or ink-like underpainting.  The fluid background is wonderful as the symbolic state of Tartarus and it is enhanced as much as it enhances the solid black of the shadows.  The black shadows help define the space, but they also function as a flat decoration; in a way it recalls the background of the red figure ceramics of ancient Greece.

SOLD

Oil on French Linen and keyed stretcher
Hand finished, silver leaf Italian frame
Conservation mounted
Image size 27.5 x 21 
Frame size 35.5 x 29

The story of Icarus is one of the most well known in classical mythology.  Icarus was exiled on the island of Crete with his father Daedalus, the legendary Athenian inventor and craftsman.  In order to escape, Daedalus fashioned, for himself and his son, a pair of wings using wax to hold the feathers.  Before the escape Daedalus warned Icarus “neither to fly too high nor too low.”  Of course, with much hubris, Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wax melted.  Icarus fell into the sea and was drowned.

 There is good reason why this painting was chosen as the image to represent the “Feathers and Fate: Mortals in Mythology” show as it quite clearly illustrates a number of the elements important to the show from the thematic to the aesthetic.  Firstly, Icarus represents man in general, that is, the will to be free, to explore, and to try with good intention and with bad to push the boundaries.  Thus the ribbons that in one form or another function throughout many of the myth works.  In a sense, we, like Icarus, are in some way bound to those things that make up our character – our pride and our fear.  As with all my works the elements of the painting function to push the figure forward in the picture plane.  In this work it is quite successful, especially with Icarus and his magnificent wings silhouetted against the sky with absolutely no reference to the earth.  Furthermore, it is not a flat sky, there is movement in the brush work going so far as to completely break up in the upper corners: an intentional device that calls attention, in mannerist fashion, to the act of painting and also symbolically hints that there are undefined areas yet to be explored.  The color is extremely important in this piece as well.  It is virtually entirely comprised of blues and oranges, these complimentary colors creating a very vibrant effect.

SOLD

Oil on canvas mounted on wood
Distressed and limed frame with metal leaf highlights
Image 30” in diameter     
Frame size 39" diameter

The story of Icarus is one of the most well known in classical mythology.  Icarus was exiled on the island of Crete with his father Daedalus, the legendary Athenian inventor and craftsman.  In order to escape, Daedalus fashioned, for himself and his son, a pair of wings using wax to hold the feathers.  Before the escape Daedalus warned Icarus “neither to fly too high nor too low.”  Of course, with much hubris, Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wax melted.  Icarus fell into the sea and was drowned.

There is quite a bit going on in this oil painting.  It was the first oil I started in anticipation of the myth show, and it was one of the last finished.  Unlike most paintings I do, this piece evolved over the course of execution.  There are a couple of reasons for this, the first being the importance of the work.  It introduces the ribbon motif that metaphorically binds the mortals to their fate.  The painting is important in that it is also one the largest and most interestingly shaped as it is in tondo form with a very elaborate circular frame.  And finally it established the ethos that these paintings were not simply retellings of the old tales; they are symbolic and regenerative.  In the present piece the aesthetic and the title speak to this very issue.  The headpiece that Icarus wears is a Phrygian hat.  The Phrygian hat was given to freed slaves in ancient times and it became the symbol of travelers.  The meaning is apparent; Icarus and his flight become synonymous with man’s desire to explore, to push his boundaries even at great risk.  Icarus the impulsive youth is elevated to Icarus the explorer and tragic hero.

 In this painting the technique is important as well.  Several oil techniques are used and the palette is quite expansive in relation to my normal working methods.  The varying use of glazes with highly modeled areas, then reinforced with heavily impastoed sections creates a very stimulating effect.  Taking a cue from Delacroix, many of the colors have their corresponding complimentary color that skews to the warm or cool depending on its position in the piece.  This is highly unique in my body of work and yet it is an ever-developing theme as it coincides nicely with my central goal, which is to use techniques that always focus attention on and emphasize the figural elements.

Ink & Watercolor

image 7 x 5
frame 18 x 16

Watercolor
Hand painted and finished Italian frame with shot silk and linen wrapped mats
Conservation mounted
Image size 23.5 x 19.5 with arched top   
Frame size 34 x 27.5

Even if the story is not familiar the name of Tantalus is since it gave us the modern word - tantalize.  For the crime of killing his son as well as revealing some of the secrets of the gods, this former king of Lydia was sent to Tartarus.  His punishment was to forever stand in a pool of water up to his neck only to have the water recede every time he tried to take a drink.  In some versions fruit hangs above his head and every time he tried to pluck something to eat the wind would blow the fruit away, thus ‘tantalizing’ him for eternity.

This picture is all about the new interpretation.  I took some liberties with the story to give a new vision of the myth, one in which the ribbon motif appears again and signifies the way in which most of us mortals are tied or bound to the very things that torture us.  We know things are bad for us yet we continue to act the same way.  True, Tantalus was consigned to hell by the gods, nevertheless the metaphor still applies: as humans we do have free will and must suffer the consequences.  Though the ribbon appears to prevent Tantalus from drinking if one studies it one can see that it is relatively lose, not at all a prohibitive binding, in a sense alluding to the complicity our minds have in restricting us, somewhat like an allegory of conscience or guilt.  But, the sagging fetters and the unusual palette give the piece an almost mystic feel rather than the tension one would expect from a soul struggling with an eternity of thirst.  It is not too far of a stretch to sense a far eastern, Asian tone in the work.

SOLD

Watercolor
Nouveau feather motif frame, hand wrapped silk and linen mats with fillet
Conservation mounted
Image size 24 in diameter    
Frame size 39 x 39

This myth is one of a number that feature a homosexual attraction.  Ganymede was a beautiful shepherd and the son of Tros, a legendary king of Troy.  Jupiter fell in love with the youth and having transformed himself into an eagle, abducted Ganymede.  Once on Olympus, Jupiter made him the cupbearer of the gods.

 Often times in the classical myths, the mortals are completely vulnerable to the whims of the gods.  Ganymede the shepherd, as far as we know, had no desire to be taken off the earth, ravished and made cupbearer to the gods.  But, such was his fate.  An unlucky situation for Ganymede but perhaps but lucky for us, as this myth is such a rich source for imagery.  I have chosen in this interpretation to emphasize the pathos of the scene.  In a sense it becomes a type of secular Pieta or some kind of somber apotheosis, and accordingly it is treated very symbolically.  For instance the crook that Ganymede holds is for show, very much like the identifying attribute of a saint and the whole composition is emblematic: it is impossible for flight to occur in the positions of our protagonists.  The importance is not in the actuality but rather in the idea of the abduction.  Man is subject to the gods and all that implies.  The falconer’s fetters on Ganymede’s ankles are further symbols of this subjugation.  For effect this watercolor is done in a manner I rarely employ in which multiple layers of color are placed on the paper to give a denser appearance, but this effect is quite in accordance with the theme.

Watercolor
Hand finished Italian rustic frame with silk and suede hand wrapped mats and gold distressed fillet
Conservation mounted
Image size 16.5 x 17.25            
Frame size 30.5 x 31.25

Juno discovered that the mortal, Semele, was with child by Jupiter and she began scheming to destroy her.  Juno wickedly advised Semele to persuade Jupiter to make love to her for once in full, divine glory.  Jupiter reluctantly agreed and when he appeared in his true state, Semele, of course, was reduced to ash by the power of Jupiter’s light.  Mercury who sewed the child in Jupiter’s thigh until it was able to survive on its own saved the unborn child just before the immolation.  That child would become Bacchus, god of wine.

 Once again a mortal is unwillingly swept into the lives of the gods and pays the price.  However, in this piece I decided not to concentrate on the ramifications of the plot but rather on the explosion of light and color as Jupiter reveals his true image to Semele.  Like the oil painting Cephalus Awakening to the Dawn and the Adoration of Aurora, this painting is one of the most conspicuously aesthetic that I have done.  There is a hint of an interior and Semele reclines on some cloth and pillows but the entire background dissolves in a flash of warm light.  The tiny blue cloth is a purely compositional device that contrasts nicely with the oranges, golds and peach colors everywhere else in the scene.  More importantly that tiny bit of contrasting blue brings the viewer’s eye back to the figure of Semele before she too disintegrates in the fiery light.

Stumped conte’ on tinted paper
Hand finished Italian rustic frame with silver leaf, silk wrapped mat
Image size 20” x 15”        
Frame size 30.5” x 26”

In order to hide his infidelity from Juno, Jupiter disguised himself as a cloud to visit and seduce Io.  Juno became wise to his game so Jupiter changed Io into a white heifer.  Again, Juno was not fooled and cunningly asked for the lovely heifer as a gift, which she left in the care of the hundred-eyed giant Argus.  Upon Jupiter’s orders Mercury charmed Argus to sleep and beheaded him.  In memory of the giant, Juno placed Argus’ eyes on the tail of the peacock; in revenge she sent the gadfly to torment the heifer forever.

The title tells the story of this work.  We enter the scene, metaphorically speaking, after Jupiter and Io have made love.  Jupiter who was in the form of a cloud has left, dissipated, the cloud is dissolving.  Io is still aloft, still in the throes of sexual delight.  This effect is achieved in the lovely recumbent and limp figure of Io and the billowing drapery on which she lies.  But a sinister note is still apparent.  Dissipated can also mean dissolute, degenerate, lewd and lascivious: all names that could easily be used to describe Jupiter.  A sense steels into the scene that all is exposed and Juno is somewhere close and watching.  This sinister note is given visualization in the headdress that Io wears.  The horns, with the ever-present ribbons, allude to her unhappy future.

Stumped conte’ on tinted paper
Hand finished Italian rustic frame with silver leaf, silk wrapped mat
Image size 19” x 14.5”              
Frame size 30.5” x 26”

This story reverses the more common theme of god and mortal love in that the pursuer is the mortal rather than the god.  Clytie was spurned by the sun god when he turned his attention on her sister Leucothea.  Still Clytie could not abandon her devotion to Apollo and the lovesick girl literally wasted away by watching the sun cross the sky everyday.  This myth artfully explains the characteristics of the sunflower and the marigold.  The scientific name of the common sunflower is helianthus annuus, Helios is the Greek name for the sun-god.

The story of Clytie is one of my favorite myths.  I love how the ancient myths made humans a part of nature.  Literally, mankind was made out of nature but also became and existed within the natural world.  It is a regenerative ethos quite distinct from the modern or rather the Judaeo-Christian concept of a natural world in which man is somehow above it, a defacto ruler of the earth.  With a myth like this it is easy to let the simplicity of a composition speak volumes.  Clytie seems to spring up out of the earth, but she is part of it and it is a part of her.  The intricate and fluttering headdress foreshadows the petals that will eventually grow from her hair.  What could be more to the point of the myth than a beautiful female form lovingly and longingly turning her head to the source of her love and what would ultimately become the sustenance of her life?