THE TABLETOP SCHEMATICS

These schematics explore the mute persistence of signs, symbols, common objects and mundane forms that are so inexorably familiar and commonplace as to become part of our everyday visual vernacular.  Removed from their normal context or function they become part of a new visual strategy.
 
One of the catalysts for these paintings came from an old red circular steel Coca-Cola sign that I rescued from the façade of a New York coffee shop slated for demolition.  I did this not for its collectible, Americana appeal, but rather for its particular visual qualities.  The sign was so clear and so forthright, so visually clean and established in its Egyptian like iconography – the green Coke bottle with its umber liquid against a red field – the white Coca Cola logo emblazoned across the center.

The objects that appear in the work, schematic line drawings of fans, violins, etc., do not subscribe to the fiction of abstract painting. They are reluctant participants, insisting upon their own self-contained, rigorous
autonomy, as seen in iconic highway signs. The paintings are executed on 1/4” plywood fastened to a table like support, edged with formica laminate and spray varnished.  They have that quality of objecthood that Heidegger describes as “the thingness of the thing, the thing – being of the thing.”  

DRAWINGS

Medium:  Graphite and acrylic ink on acid free,100 lb. cover stock, dull coated. Size:  28” x 40”

“ Simple Gifts “ engages objects and abstract elements in visual counterpoint and contradiction.
A tough compromise is reached between the two entities to co-exist within the space.

PHOTOGRAPHS

The black and white photos show a juxtaposition of disparate objects which became the inspiration for the object paintings. Size:  20” x 24”

SPRINGBOARDS

Willem de Kooning:  Door to the River, Suburb in Havana

Paul Klee:  Under the Angel’s Wing on a Steep Path (drawing)

Robert Morris:  hanging felt

Barnett Newman:  Broken Obelisk, Vir Heroicus Sublimis

Al Held:  Greek Garden, Genesis

Kenneth Noland:  Chevrons, Striped Paintings

Robert Ryman: white paintings

Jeff Koons:  Easy fun - Ethereal

Ed Ruscha: word paintings