Spring Sublimation

18" x 24"

oil on panel



"Measured objectively, what a man can wrest from Truth by passionate striving is utterly infinitesimal. But the striving frees us from the bonds of the self and makes us comrades of those who are the best and the greatest. " - Albert Einstein

I'm always looking for motivators. I mean, I am self-motivated, but even so it is good to get external reinforcement that I'm not wasting my time trying when it sometimes seems futile. It's kind of like looking for the cups of water and orange slices from people when running a marathon.

I painted over another painting to make this one. It is a put-the-past-behind kind of thing which accompanied my spring cleaning and multiple trips to the Volunteers of America. Roberta Smith wrote an article in The New York Times recently about how there seems to be a new trend in painting of working small, as opposed to the large works of the Abstract-Expressionists. She suggests it relates to the economy. It is a kind of simplification, reduction. The short but brilliantly succinct film, The Story of Stuff shows the current state of world affairs better than anything I've come across. My nine-year-old was able to grasp the problems that elude much of society because of its straightforward and appeal graphics. I didn't want to watch it at first, but was glad I did. I think it definitely relates to my art and why I'm making it the way I am.

As far as this particular work, there is a lot of texture visible in this photo of it, but in person the center square seems to hover and seems to be able to go in front as well as behind the green. I'm obsessed with green. Plants are supposed to relax people. The expansive green fields and luminous blue skies of Western New York helped to inspire this picture.