Cosmic Strips
A cosmology in 20 parts that presents a perception of the universe in a multi-layered, visual narrative influenced by orchestral fantasias, comics and science texts. Using abstract painting, observational rendering, and graphic forms, each panoramic panel is like a super-sized comic strip that presents a story full of symbols and abstract language.
Cosmic Stripsis available as a book on Amazon
See the Cosmic Strips Chart Part 1 and Part 2
The Value of Addition and Subtraction in the Accounting of a Day
2004- oil, acrylic, pencil, colored pencil- 54" x 115"
All Things conceived shall realize liberation - 2005- 54" x 110 oil, acrylic, pencil, on denril
A Container for Light 2006- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 132"
The transformation of Darkness into Light 2006- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 132"
In limbo there is time to consider 2003- pencil, acrylic, oil colored pencil on denril 54" x 132"
In Limbo, Breathing Water is Free 2003- pencil, acrylic, oil colored pencil on denril 54" x 144"
The Invisible Resolve of Night will not Vanish with Day
2004- pencil, acrylic, oil, colored pencil on denril- 54" x 115"
Sequences of Events that Result in Internal and External Realities
2004 - pencil, acrylic, oil, colored pencil on denril - 54" x 144"
Everything that turns is becoming, and everything turns
2004- pencil, acrylic, oil colored pencil on denril 54" x 132"
Mapping the Continents of Lost Thought 2005- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 112"
What umbrella will hold their liquid souls? 2006- pencil, acrylic, oil colored pencil on denril 54" x 132"
A Story of Potential Energy
2005 acrylic, pencil,colored pencil on denril
108" x 54"
Experiments in Curved Space. 2006- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 105"
I Saw the Sea. 2006- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 120"
The strength of gravity holds us like a net and balances us against the weight of time
2005/7- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 120"
In the Present Moment...Gravity Bends us all to Earth. 2007- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 120"
Diagram of the Space Between 2007- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 120"
What can I tell you about the space I'm in ? 2007- pencil, acrylic, oil colored pencil on denril 54" x 123"
In the miracle of television, I have seen the past and understood the future
2003- acrylic, pencil,colored pencil on denril- 54" 120"
A Simple Explanation 2005- acrylic, pencil,colored pencil on denril- 54" 108"
An event of small consequence 2003- oil, acrylic, pencil, colored pencil on denril 54" x 115"
Place We're In
By the Time we Realized 2007- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 72" x 120"
Above the waters 2007- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 72" x 67
Now is the Unseen Structure Holding us in Place 2007- pencil, acrylic, colored pencil on denril 54" x 120
Connecting points of light 2007 pencils, acrylics, on denril- 72" x 120"
Circumanbience and impossibility of embrace pencils, acrylics, on denril- 90"" x 144"
What holds us together what drives us apart pencils, acrylics, on denril- 90"" x 144"
Marking the Immeasurable Distances between here and there
2008 pencils, acrylics, on denril- 90"" x 96"
Complex living structure cutting arcs and angles against the air above
2009 pencils, acrylics, on denril- 90"" x 96"
Experience alters time, memory alters space
pencils, acrylics, on denril- 90"" x 96"
Spirals of Ascendance 2008/9
pencils, acrylics, on denril- 90"" x 96"
We Spin a Circle in the Air 2009
pencils, acrylics, on denril- 90"" x 96"
These are in paint and drawing materials on denril film and concern space, place and the experience of being in landscape. All are from photos and sketches done in locations that include Southern California, Ohio, New Jersey and Virginia, where I have lived or spent good amounts of time. The space between the land and myself becomes as much the subject as the land itself. The settings or locations are often mixed within the same picture-they reflect the layering of memory- the experience of remembered places
The trees are all from little park areas just off major city streets or strips of grass beside larger roads. Each tree subject was selected for specific aspects I was seeking, and I made effort to record the effects of visible/invisible forces, wind, time, gravity, storms, pollution, and people's interactions; working from multiple views, multiple photographs and sketches and visiting each subject many times during the entire process. In doing this I was trying to both capture the visual information there and to visualize and to understand the space- to delineate the extended structure that encompassed these complex living forms. The experience of the tree in space/time and my experience of the tree should combine in the work to create physical and spiritual illusory space. The physics of nature mirror the principles of the soul and spirit.
My Artificial Nature/Existential Systems
We Developed a Theology of Natural Causes 2002 pencils, pens acrylics, oils, on denril 84" x 140"
A Translation of Light 2003 - oil, acrylic, pencil colored pencil on denril 84" x 140"
Time's Flower 2002 pencils, pens acrylics, oils, on denril 84" x 124"
Visual Equation with Inverted Tree 2002 pencils, pens acrylics, on denril 84" x 144"
Visual Equation with Inverted Tree 2002 pencils, pens acrylics, on denril 84" x 144"
Bad History 2002-3 acrylic and pencils on denril, 84"x 117"
Where everything shatters and everything is reclaimed- 2003 - oil, acrylic, pencil colored pencil on denril 84" x 80"
The Future Passed Us By 2001-2 acrylic, house paint and pencils on denril, 84"x 132"
.2002-3 My artificial nature/existential systems
Painting and drawing are systems of recording and ordering visual information. We live in the vast, complex systems of nature and the human-made systems we are constantly developing.
This set of work explores the systems of existence through systems of drawing/painting, while acknowledging how seemingly preposterous or impossible this is to attempt. This is, I think in keeping with the concepts of existentialist thought and literature.
In these works I was able to build the image in a method that approached stream of consciousness, starting by rendering one part or piece and then connecting and developing the other parts, creating a dynamic form without a preconceived plan and then adjusting and shaping. The process involved constant response, problem-solving and invention, and led to instinctive decisions on what colors, textures, surfaces, and visual information was necessary to make the 'system' work. Likewise, realistically rendered objects from photos such as trees and clouds, building parts, geometric forms, organic abstractions,
graphic/graffitti/comic mark making all were brought into play as elements when needed.
The set of work was a development of my Mechanism paintings of 1995, in which I composed images of mystical purpose or no purpose from renderings of leaves, plants, flowers, and tree parts-and the plastic paintings from 1997 that explored movement through exploded curved graphic forms. The challenging sprawl of the Existential Systems led me to want to set limits on the size of the work and amount of information in a work and to disambiguate these complex concepts into individual expressions. These became the Cosmic Strips Series. The description here of the universe became story/images of my universe.