ARTIST STATEMENT

Roy Deforest once called me a painter of monsters but that my monsters are people. His monsters are dogs. He was right about mine of course but now these monsters rather than just being painted are drawn, carved, printed and then painted. For the past two hundred and forty some odd wood blocks the subject matter of my work has been a mix of myth and religion with subjects going from the virtues and vices, the saints and sinners and the second coming to many other figurative and still-life works all the way through to some big fun in the suburbs. The newest artworks that you see here are from my current group of images that have to do with my real and imagined life as a blue rabbit. When you live in the world of the white middle class suburban culture which is the only culture never discussed, you must rely on your own personal histories in order to make a difference or just to make people take a look at the work. I was raised on my father’s local television kiddy show back when T.V. was live and video wasn’t even thought up yet. It was Nevada in the fifties and sixties. He was a ventriloquist with a yellow monkey and my mother made me dress as a blue rabbit to serve dutifully in the passing out of Graham Crackers and chocolate milk to the other children on his show. Once in a while I would surprise everyone by spelling the word Chrysanthemum when no one else could. This is my culture and I own it as I remember it for real and for keeps. The pictures here are about my own dramas some truth and some lies filled with humor just to access your sense of the curious and the ridiculous. No big concepts. I made them for me. I made them for you.