This series of portraits represents a developmental period for a style of artistic expression incorporating the psychology of symbolic recognition that allows the brain to understand and comprehend complex communication through layers of symbolism. Each piece beckons the viewer to find meaning in its structure so as to understand the artwork itself, the artist, and most importantly, the viewer’s self. As the art has progressed, I have used this structure to symbolically discuss the nature of existence, society, and the soul.
“Chanel” (left)
2000 - 12” x 20”
Pastel and Charcoal on paper
(direct scan, best representation of original colors)
One of a pair of portraits given as a gift to my grandmother, Beverly Selby, and Steven Shore for hiring me to do lobbying in DC over a summer, this is a symbolic portrait of my grandmother herself. Examining her personality, she is a woman of independence and great generosity. As a Policy Writer in the White House under Reagan, she was considered an uncompromising patriot and a hell cat to cross. Despite her tenacity, she is a small unassuming woman, generally adorned with hot pink Chanel suits and timeless antique jewelry. Even with all the pressures of her incumbency, she retains an innocent child-like appeal.
“Dry Cosmopolitan” (right)
2000- 18” x 14” –
Oil on paper canvas
On the occasion of my brother’s 21st birthday, I created this painting to celebrate with the cereal box colors of the piece, seduce with the olive breasts and alcoholic martini, but also gently admonish the dangers of alcohol, alcoholism, and the possibility of becoming jaded by one’s own indulgences.
“Fetal Man” (left)
1999 - 24” x 18”
Pastel and Charcoal on paper
Somewhat of a self portrait, the isolated figure sits pensively in a fetal position, overwhelmed by the world crushing in on him. His face cast in darkness with few discernable features, he searches for himself. A good example of how the style developed, this figure began as a table with a tea pot, still visible in his shoulder. The evolution of the specific piece further highlights the search for self.
“The Window” (right)
2000 - 36” x 24”
Acrylic on canvas
The title invites the viewer to experience the painting from within the seated figures room looking out her window, just as her gaze holds us within her confines. She looks out upon the city, the windows of the high rise across the street merely blank frames—just as her own window must appear to passer-bys bustling in the street. Wrapped within the curtains of her cell, trapped in the confines of her own chair, she becomes her surroundings, blending into what the outside world could only see as a blank window and all the while her fixed gaze holds the viewer with her to share her isolation and console her loneliness.
“Violation” (left)
1999 - 8.5” x 11"
Pastel and Charcoal on paper
The very first piece of Art I ever created, this began as a sketch on the side of my notes in a Writing class at Stanford University where we were discussing cubism and symbolism in literature. Following the loss of my family’s first home when my father was diagnosed with MS, I felt lost and violated by my trust in the world. The fruit has been sliced open by a sharp knife, no longer innocent and whole. The violin speaks of seduction by beauty, only to distort and consume the light within by its open mouth. The teeth double as an open zipper revealing the light of the bare soul, the “leg” of the chair that once supported now thrust out in imbalance.
“Woman in Wallpaper”
(right) 1999 - 16” x 12”
Pastel and Charcoal on paper
A portrait of a misunderstood woman in despair (my mother, after the loss of sight in one eye following the removal of a brain tumor and lack of support by her husband), the figure feels invisible. Her complexity blends away into her surroundings, unseen by those who do not take the time to get close. As you approach her…literally approach the drawing…her complexity emerges and the viewer is forced to create a connection of empathy and comprehension by both their physical and emotional approach.
“Portrait of Beverly Selby” (left)
2005 - 24” x 18”
Oil on canvas
Using a life sketch taken of my grandmother in 1998, I transposed this masterpiece finally onto canvas to do it true justice. I utilized this piece as a developmental stage in my oil technique, having recalled the methods of Titian. The painting was placed down in charcoal, then black and white, with an icing of transparent and vivid colors to create a balanced and multi-dimensional tone. The complex structures and bubbles floating from her head represent her brilliant political mind and the dispersion of ideas to help the world. The flag is her constant reminder of where she comes from and who she fights for. Compassion and self sacrifice drive this woman more than anything. She is a hero in the truest sense.
“My Mother and the Watchful Felines” (right)
2005 - 48” x 30”
Oil on canvas
A symbolic raw portrait of my mother for her 49th birthday. She is surrounded by the cats that have filled her emotional void as my father descended farther and farther into insanity and incompetence with the progression of MS. Her one large gazing eye looks out for all, the world flat and depthless like the painting she lives within. She lost the other optic nerve during brain surgery removing a meningioma. The cats protect her, and fill her life. There are nine, her favorite, the mother of three others, sits within her heart. The two feral kittens we recently found and saved bounce between her legs, the other rests on her shoulder. My cat (the one catching the star with wings), died shortly after this painting was completed, representing her ascension to heaven. The other two kittens who did not survive are already flying heavenward to the open paws of our dear cat, Twister, who was run over by a car. Her third eye now opens between her legs, presenting a path of the unknown, and a path to her soul. The snake, the evil and sorrow presented by my father, is stamped underfoot to rid him of her burden.
“Witness to a Feline Tragedy” (left)
2005 - 24” x 18”
Pastel and Charcoal on paper
In the wake of the death of a family pet, my sister and her fiancé and I were driving home. Further ahead in the adjacent lane I spotted a small black cat casually crossing the street, unaware of a large black truck barreling down upon it. I screamed though unable to do anything; we all witnessed the horror of the small family pet as the lifted vehicle passed over, splitting the animals head. The cat flailed and kicked in futile desperation, no longer able to control its body, its blood spilled to the ground, and there it died, lonely and isolated from the comfort of its family.
It was this image that plagued my mind, stuck on repeat, the small animal changing between my own pet and that black cat. And so to replace the horrific image logged in my memory, I decided to weave the tragedy and the role we had played at the time of its death into a beautiful and reassuring homage of life and death. And so the road of its life spirals to the center of the painting and the crossroads of its demise. The cat lay on its back, kicking, and his paw holds the center of the wheel, the cat driving his own destiny as he is crushed beneath it. His body is also the landscape of his life.
Three angels, also the three witnesses (masculine, feminine, and the Holy unified), look down upon the event…their arms wrap around the life of the cat and cradle him, their fingers fan together to become the wings of his ascension. His blood spills in to the Earth and his body returns, fueling the cycle of Life as vines climb to the light. The center represents the point of the cat’s ego and his perspective world, becoming more abstract as he distances himself from his body in death. As 9 seeds of life below as light, so 8 in the sky wrapped by the tears of the Angels, plus One carried in the Angel’s ear to Eternity above.