statement

"Second Genesis," is a series of paintings in which a mythical spirit riding a tricycle guides the viewer through the aftermath of a cataclysmic global event.

Visual hyperbole and mixed metaphoric images develop a new paradox that reveals underlying truths relating to how human society will deal with what many believe is an inevitable and dramatic environmental, economic and geopolitical change. While there is no definitive proof as to what will actually happen, it makes for interesting speculation. The artist not only raises questions about the world we could hand down to future generations, but goes much further in exploring the possibility for a profoundly tragic transition and the emergence of a savage post technological epoch.

The circumstance illustrated in many of the paintings in this collection are loosely based on historical records, photographs, drawings, paintings and literature describing famines, plagues and forced migrations over thousands of years. For reference there are the crusades, the black plague, the Cherokee trail of tears, the forced expulsion of Armenians by the Turks, the Ukrainian famine, and contemporary tragedies in Africa and the Sudan. The list is quite extensive. The written descriptions and associated images of such events are sometimes too disturbing for most people to tolerate. The eye and mind quickly turn away.

The creative approach in "Second Genesis" is to capture the eye and challenge the mind by drawing the viewer in close to examine one detailed image thrown against another, one tolerable, the other unthinkable. Images are skillfully mixed in order to present a paradox which through art serves to dull the sharp edges of reality.

Drawing on elements of 19th century neoclassicism and the philosophies of early 20th century surrealism, the exhibit series incorporates timeless themes from Greek history and mythology. Subject matter, stories and figures in this work have been selected and presented in a way that also attempts to revive and preserve what may be soon lost artistic traditions.

The resulting paintings are meant to disturb sensibilities while still retaining belief in human ingenuity and dignity. The trivial is mixed with the profound and each image operates on many levels. Narrative painting is theater and the artist purposely invokes a raised eyebrow to instill one trivial concern while at the same time commenting on another which is much more profound.

Survival is about vulnerability and the future is in the end up to the most vulnerable human beings, children. They are therefore often the main players in this narrative. Unlike the “Lord of the Flies” which explored how isolated innocents descend into savagery, "Second Genesis" struggles to explore many of the same dark elements of human nature and hopefully transcend them.