"Ms. Olympia"

This painting was purchased by the Cleve. Clinic around 1990. The vase has an image of Herculese fighting an amazon woman. The mug has an image of Ms. Olympia, the body building contest for women. The Dixie cups have a cartoon of Linus insulting Nancy. Teresa DeChant the Clinic art consultant at that time thought this would look great in the cafeteria, because it's about health. It was. The shadow is of someone who made me heart sick. I recovered.

"I Remember Euclid Beach"

University Hospitals in Cleveland, commissioned the painting on top for a waiting room. I based the painting on some photos. I shot this one not realizing there was a rainbow ending near the old woman's head. I saw it after I developed the negative and printed it. That is Ellen Spivak sitting on the blanket, reading the news paper. I painted her plein air on a beautiful fall afternoon in 1993.

"Gladiolus"

A friend who knew he was dying, bought this painting. Maybe he liked it because there wasn't much to think about when looking at it. One can appreciate the movement of the lines and the gradation of the blossoms from small to large.

Three New Pieces By European Artists At The Cleveland Clinic

After visiting dear Aunt Shirley who is fighting cancer on the 8th floor, I ran into an art tour of new art acquisitions and commissions for the hospital. There is a huge display of cascading, rotating random alphabet letters hung from wires. There's a painting of a bed that looks like a roller coaster. There's also a large watercolor of a little boy rowing a boat looking at an empty space shaped like two figures. There is so much to think about here. I have an art education so I am familiar with this kind of cutting edge art. (which is not really cutting edge because it is taught in schools). I really wonder what an average, down to earth, family man thinks as he is confronted with these art works, as he leaves his sick wife. I'll have to ask Uncle John.

"Meadow On The Cove", painting in progress

The place is called "Meadow on the Cove", it is in Orleans on Cape Cod. Only wild native plants are allowed to grow. I can think of no more beautiful way to landscape. Memories of Aunt Mary's farm in Andover, OH, come flooding back.

Plein Air, Fort Hill, Eastham, MA

Painting on Cape Cod is a dream come true. There really is a "cape light". The Cape is a peninsula, extending 65 miles into the Atlantic. There is a tremendous amount of sun reflection from the ocean which creates an unusual clarity and sparkle.

Painting "Two Paths"

A passerby shot this photo of me. He told me how his father learned to paint: He bought inexpensive framed reproductions from Woolworths and painted over the existing brush strokes, one by one. I had many painting teachers. The best was Joseph Jankowski, who studied at the Art Students League. I took his painting course at the Cleveland Institute of Art circa 1973. I fear that good old classical painting techniques are now becoming a lost art

"Before The First Frost"

Ah, the joys of Plein Air painting! The French really got it right. I set up the French eisel on a perfect October day at Beckwith Orchard. That is the dalhia garden of Ray Wilkins. He is a retired professor from KSU. I had a nice chat with him. It was sad that with the economic
meltdown, he might have to downscale his retirement plans. As he had warned me, the dalhias all disintigrated after the first frost. I shot many photos of him and the garden, and plan to paint a series.

"Hera"

She was the goddess of women, childbirth, and marriage. Zeus cheated on her constantly. A nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from knowledge of Zeus's escapades. She cursed Echo to only be able to repeat the words of others. Neoclassicissm can be a curse if the repeating of motifs leads only to the past. A painter, R. Ryan said, "Neoclassicism is cheating."

"The Wanderer"

An art dealer informed me that these paintings were kitch. I said, "Of course they're kitch. I love kitch." I also love the late work of Picabia and the neoclassicism of Picasso. Carlo Mariani can really paint. Let's not forget John Currin. Have you seen what Jim Dine is up to? He used laser scanners to enlarge Greek figurines from 100 BC, at the Getty Villa. He then made wood carvings of them. Way to go, kitchmeister!

"He Met Her In A Dream"

There is a song by Bjork with the lyric: "I miss you, but I haven't met you yet."

"Wake Upon Another Shore"

Someone called these types of paintings my "see through vase paintings". We can see the world, the ancient life in a vase.

"Horse"

This circus painting is quite large: 96" x 48". The three ring circus idea is mashed up with transparent planes and a gold leaf outlined horse head. The picture is from a slide as are all of the circus paintings in the following posts.

"The Source" oil on shaped canvas

This painting is going to be put up for sale at Sotheby's by a collector. Yikes. It will be the first time one of my children has been sold that way.

"Sugar"

A Yogi once asked me "What tastes better? Lemon and Lemon or Sugar and Lemon? He was teaching me a fundamental truth about life and love. No, those aren't ants jumping on the grapefruit.

"On Both Ends At Once"

One of the first paintings I did in the Spring Street loft. I designed this to be hung from the cieling.

"The Double Twist Of Death"

I painted this at the Edward Albee Foundation, in Montauk, N.Y. in 1979. It was quite an experience being there. It is a summer workshop in a barn. I had a huge studio. There were two painters, and three writers there. One of the writers was James Lapine, who has come to great success: "Sunday In The Park With George" was written by him. Nogouchi dropped by one day wearing shorts and flip-flops...and I had dinner in Mr. Albee's famous mirrored dinning room. Excuse me for the poor quality of the picture: It's from an old slide.

"Out Of The Bottomless Sea"

In ancient Greek mythology, Poseidon lives with the dolphins in a bejeweled palace at the bottom of the ocean. In Marvel comics he lives in Atlantis. In this vase he fights a monster.

"Knucklebones I" & "Knucklebones II"

Knucklebones was an ancient game played with animal bones. This very detailed painting was lost in a collectors house fire. I was commissioned to replicate the original. Thinking about painting the same image twice reminds me of a great show of Al Held's at Emerich gallery circa 1978: Al painted two identical geometric abstracts. One was a mirror image. The paintings were hung on oposite walls and the effect was magic.

There are a few differences between Knucklebones I and II. Remember "Highlights for Children" ?

"Eagles" and "Lions"

These are paintings of doors in the Society Bank building, designed by John Root of the Chicago firm, Burnham and Root. The 1889 design shows influences of Gothic, Romanesque, and Renaissance styles. I have since used this pointed Gothic arch shape and proportion in many of my paintings. The turn of the century produces a plethora of synthesized eclectic styles in all the arts. Look at our current art scene: any thing goes. Art and Architecture critics are mostly confused. There is one, Barbara Rose, who got it right. In a lecture at Yale, circa 1977, she predicted what I see and embrace as an expression of the convergence of cultures, styles, & historical references: Postmodernism. Long live Robert Stern and John Currin.