PAINTINGS

What looks like wood grain in these oil paintings is actually a disciplined texture deliberately raked into the wet paint with a stiff brush. Every color is bounded by a carefully designed shape that is finitely bordered; but the texture flows through all of them. The texture does not photograph well, but it literally dances with light, making the paintings alive in person.

This is how I see: from within a surface. It shows up in my vision as a very specific pattern that flows over everything before me, and it has an uncanny similarity to the opposing spiral arrangement of seeds in the head of a sunflower.

It's not drug-induced. It is organic and it is real. I have written a paper on it. Click here to read it.

If you are interested in having an oil painting made, please go to the PRICES page on the menu for commission information.

"JOHN LAUTNER: PORTRAIT OF AN ARCHITECT"
Oil on Panel, 1984

42" x 66"
(112 cm x 168 cm)

I spent 1983 and 1984 in the Hollywood office of John Lautner, painting his portrait. It was an honor and a privilege. I was chosen because John saw my unique painting technique and saw me -- at 22 or 23 -- and said something like, "Jesus Christ, kid, you're the Real Thing! You invented this technique yourself???" To be called "the Real Thing" by John Lautner, I soon learned, was the highest compliment he gave.

It was a year of full-time work and it is the finest thing I've ever made. As far as I know, the portrait hung behind Mr. Lautner's desk until his passing, in 1994. He really, really loved it.

Click on images below for larger views

There was a retrospective of Mr. Lautner's architecture at the Hammer Museum, near UCLA. (July 13 - October 12, 2008) This is a photo I took of him that decorated the exhibit entrance.

"STILL LIFE ON A PURPLE MANTLE"
Oil on Panel, 1992

11" x 20"
(28 cm x 51 cm)

This painting was an experiment with eggs...or onions. It's so hard to tell, I'll let you decide. Anyway, the two views on either side of the painting have been lit to accentuate the changes generated by surface texture. To the left is a view from the angle of incidence, and to the right is a view from the angle of reflection. (Now, don't you wish you'd read that paper I mentioned at the top of this page?)

Click on images below for larger views