"The Green Lion" Painting

A re-consideration of the standard imagery of animals in art—noble beasts; loyal companions; photos or paintings done in a kitsch manner—inspired this series of paintings. Animal shapes provide representational structure and act as a point of departure for experiments in abstraction, scale, surface, and intent. That the preliminary stages of my working process—appropriation from the internet; manipulation in software; drawing with pencil; projection onto canvas—produce oil paintings is, to me, a pleasing reversal of the historical timeline in the development of these artistic media. In this group of paintings an important feature is the gaze of the animal outward from the canvas. Assessing our reaction to the unblinking stare of the animal in the paintings, we confront the fact of our own animal nature––that we are animals. (To those who wish to contact me: please note that the email address shown is incorrect. Use or )