DESCRIPTION OF PAINTINGS
(click on the title of the painting to see the painting)
The Kiss: I had a simple image of two lips kissing. I drew the lips and then the noses simply grew from that point. I then wanted to distinguish the male from the female so I gave him a moustache. I wanted to keep it simple and express the joy, love and warmth of this tender gesture.
Femme Fatal: Simply the image of the “Deadly Woman” who uses her charm and her sex to ensnarl her male prey. In the painting I try to express the ‘Femme’s” use of a look, a smile, a gesture with the lips, a turning away to seem uninterested, and always present, the sex. I used the blue background to represent the “blues” that she leaves behind in her prey.
Seeing Red: This painting is my expression of anger and frustration and how they cause an imbalance within our minds. How such feelings keep us from thinking rationally and make us do things which we often regret. I am frequently asked if I was angry or frustrated at the time I created this work. The answer is yes. Fortunately, I maintained my exposure enough not to destroy the work after its completion.
Kissing: A great pastime that deserved to be painted in a style reminiscent of the Yin-Yang. A play on the two primal opposing but complementary principles of the Yin and Yang. The choice of two canvases rather than one painting in the two colours was to allow them to be hung with a space in between which I felt would enhance the final viewing of the work.
Spanish Dream: In a dream I saw the fire of the Flamenco, the Fire of the Women, and the fire of the Gitanos (the gypsies). That is why the use of red as the main color of the work. The Central figure of the naked woman in black and white is the hot and cold posture of the Spanish woman. The image of the woman with her eyes closed represents both shyness and some of the old values which remain. The “sail” as many have called it in the middle of the painiting is actully a film strip representing the feeling I sometimes have of being in Spain of “make belive”, of being in a dream. A dream within a dream.
The Phantom: This painting has been described as a haunting painting that stares back at the viewer. The title was easy to come by as the finished painting reminded me of the Phantom of the Opera. If one searches one can find the object of this ‘Phantoms” desire within the work, this Phantom’s Christine.
Threesome: The sexually suggestive sounding name is not an accident. It is what it is; a man’s desire to experience sex with two women at the same time.
Love: The bond between a man and a woman. Specifcally that special look into the eyes of the person you love. The painting is wild and the images become one with objects of this love for the viewer to find.
The Giving Woman: The partial female form turned into a vase symbolizes all that ‘pours’ forth a woman that in itself is a necessity of life for she gives not only of herself to her man and to her child, but to all who come in contact with her.
Mourning: The grief and pain at a loss. Any loss, be it a loved one or a friend. The loss of someone we never knew but idolized.. The loss of love. The loss of an opportunity, or simply the loss of what little time we have given to us.
Enrapptured: The many facets of being enrapptured; from curiosity to love and desire.
The Seed: The embryo in the womb planted by a man and a woman’s coming together as one.
Lovers and Friends: The faces of lovers and friends some remain while others are memories, good or bad, symbolized in this painting by the one face which looks away from the central face.
Hidden Soul: That which lies within us all. The other side of us all which we seldom if ever expose or share with others. Sometimes bright, often dark.
Laughter All Around Me: This painting is self explanatory in its images. The ‘Me’ is the large central face surrounded by many laughing faces. The most often question is “are they laughing at me or with me”?
The Peeper: Many people get confused by this painting because the search for more than is there. I have had the large circular images even described by one viewer as fish. In fact they are very large breasts belonging to the woman whose face we see. She in turn is staring down at the “Peeper” staring up at her. Simple and whimsical.
Deliverance: The most often asked question of people who have seen this painting is, “is this what I think it is”? The answer is YES.
Bubble Gum: The many images in this painting have nothing to do with bubble gum. However, the shade of pink reminded me of a brand of bubble gum I enjoyed as a child.
Apathy: The look that we take on when we become indifferent to a person, event or an activity. Specifically I was thinking at how easy it is to turn off from what we don’t want to see. To turn away from things that we have the power to change but choose not to do so.
Burgundy Dream: This is another form of the threesome fantasy. However in this one it is focused on the two women. In this one we don’t see the man but rather what he dreams of.
Crowded Canvas: I had 4 canvases that I painted with a different background color. I then decided to group the 4 together to paint the painting without thought that there were 4 canvases. I simply allowed the lines to flow as I felt. Once the painting was completed I split the canvases and enjoyed the effect of a slight gap between the canvases as they were hung on the wall.
Smorgasbord: A buffet of intimate delights for the palate of the discerning lover.
Head Turner: Almost everyone who first sees this painting the immediately point to the “penis” they see. In actuality it is not a penis. It is simply a woman walking in front of an admiring man. But because of the distance separating the two, he is close up she is further away; her body blocks his other eye, nose, and the other half of his smile.
Monochromatism Bliss: The bliss of sexuality. The title of the painting comes from the fact that it is painted in only black and white and devoid of color .
All About Eve: This paining is an expression of the many facets of a Woman as I see her. In it I try to show her sexuality, her nurturing care and love, her anger, her fear, her good side and her bad side.
Blue Eyes: Simply named for the main focal point of the blue eyes which are central to the painting. The body images are similar to the central figure in the painting Dutch Delight representing female sexuality.
Dutch Delight: After living in Amsterdam I would have to say that some of the most beautiful women in the world are there. The women for the most part are tall and voluptuous with piercing eyes. In this paining I have tried to express how I see them against a background of flowing colors of the flag of The Netherlands.
Chastity: In the medieval times when a man was obsessed with his woman and feared she would stray, he would fit her with a chastity belt whenever he was away from her. In the painting I try to show the fear and jealousy of the man, the beauty and charm of the woman and her sexuality, and the ever present third man; the threat that causes the man to “lock” his woman and keep her for himself only.
Lust: The power of sexual lust is one of the most powerful forces in the human being. Over the centuries it has been an urge that has been tried to be controlled by religious orders and has failed. It is primeval and I try to show the poser of it in this painting.
Flamenco: Being also a musician my memories of Flamenco music is traced to my youth when it was the music that was played in my house constantly. Also having an uncle who is a professional Flamenco guitarist I have sat around him and his fellow musicians late into the night absorbing the fire, power, and emotion of the Flamenco (not to mention absorbing the many bottles of wine that go with it). The painting captures some of those emotions and memories.
Conflict: Something I abhor but have witnessed all to often in people. In the painting I express the ugliness of conflict and the pain and tears it brings, especially among people who otherwise love each other.
Window of the Soul: This painting has a lot of things going on but central are the many eyes. And as I strongly believe that you can see deep into the soul of another when you look deep into their eyes, I titled that painting as such.
Goodfellas: One of my favorite “mob” movies is the Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas. The movie poster shows the three main gangsters in the movie portrayed my Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta. The poster shows them to be glamorous figures in fine clothes. In my painting I take a different approach and show the true side of what those characters represent.
Jose Maria & Maria Jose: Returning again to my love of Flamenco I incorporated the image of the male and female flamenco dancers and the guitar. The humorous title came to me when I started to realize how many people in Spain had the name Jose Maria and Maria Jose.
Flamenco Fire: Another variation on the flamenco theme expressed in a large canvas of almost 2 meters in height. In this painting I have given the guitar the “soul” which it deserves as the primary element of the flamenco music.
El Jinete: The title comes from a song that I have been singing for years. It tells a story of a man alone on his horse riding off with his guitar a broken heart for the love that he has lost.
Ole: The colors and texture of the female flamenco dancer is expressed in the large 2 meter high canvas.
Blue Flower: What started as nothing more than a simple sketch was transformed into a meter and a half square painting which expresses love, tenderness, and serenity.
Dubai Beauty: On several visits to Dubai I came away with an idea that transformed itself into a work that encompasses the colors of the sea, sky, and land. It’s central focus is on a veiled woman’s face which represents the beauty of the people in which then blends in with the outline of the Burj Al Arab hotel, which itself has become a symbol of the Dubai to many people around the world.
Shy Woman: While being shy the woman can not hide her form and sexuality.
Giraffes on Bicycles: When I lived in Amsterdam I spent almost every day walking through the Vondelpark which is Amsterdam’s version of New York’s Central Park. I was always taken by the large number of beautiful women making their way through the park on their bicycles. What struck me most were the long legs and torsos of the women peddling the bicycles. I could not help but think of Giraffes on Bicycles. I rushed home with the idea and started the painting. In it I use only the colors of the flag of The Netherlands (except for the yellow wooden shoes). I also incorporate the wonderful façade of the centuries old homes that dot the canals of the city. And of course I had to put windmills somewhere, so I chose the wheels of the bicycle.
Giraffes at the Museumplien: I carried the theme of the painting Giraffes on Bicycles to this painting. The Museumplien is another park which I would walk through on an almost daily basis. The park is surrounded by the Reichmuseum which is shown in the distant background and the Van Gogh museum, which is the grey building shown in the foreground. Again I used the colors of the flag of the Netherlands for the Giraffes and the sky.
Espana: This painting is a montage of the many aspects of Spain that I love. The large house is the house in which I lived and worked in for two years when I first came to Spain. My “FACES” series of paintings were primarily done in house.
Casa Lara: I came across a 200 year old Spanish estate that was basically a ruin after so much neglect. I had a vision to buy and restore it but the owner would not sell. During the process of many months of negotiations I painted this painting which shows what the house would look like after the renovation.
Viva Espana: I had an idea of making a painting using only the colors of the flag of Spain as I did with the painting Giraffes on Bicycles wherein I used only the colors of the flag of the Netherlands. If you look closely at the band around the sound hole of the guitar you can see the royal logo that is on the official flag repeated around the sound hole.
Casa Julio: This is a painting of a house of a friend of mine in Spain. The “house: is actually a castle that has been around since the times when the Moors invaded Spain. This castle served as a front line defense position in the defense of the city of Alicante.
Tears of the Unborn: As a student of history I am sometimes frustrated and appalled by the incompetence of people who are in the positions of leadership in the world today who have learned nothing from history and are ready to repeat its mistakes at the cost of not only the citizens who populate their countries, but also at the cost of the lives of those yet to be born into the future conflicts that they allow to fester.
Tango: I took in a live stage show while in Dubai of a group of South American dancers who did a show around the theme of the tango. Later that evening I awoke and sketched the image that is the final painting.
The Other Side of Stress: Stress comes to us all at some point in time. The secret I have learned is how to deal with it when it arrives. The Painting depicts the darkness and pain of stress while the other side depicts the calmness and serenity in which one has to move to in these times of stress to deal with whatever the issue is causing the stress, in a calm manner.
Nude on the Beach: Living on the Mediterranean coast it is not unnatural to come across nude sunbathers. I have often watched the people watching the sunbathers as much as watching the sunbathers themselves. The painting shows the woman in the nude leaning against another nude body with the sun in the image of a breast. The woman is in one sense ignoring the people looking at her (her eyes are closed) while the other side of her (you must look carefully in her hair to see her other side) is looking back and shows the side that appreciates that she is sexy and admired. The eye under her legs represents those watching the nude sunbathers.
Meditation: I have tried to capture the peacefulness and tranquility of the power of meditation. The ability to take ones self to another plane.
Sleeping Beauty: My vision of the classic tale of the kiss from the prince that awoke the sleeping beauty.
A Mess of Blues: We all have memories of past relationships that ended in the opposite direction of what we wanted. While they may be sad, I simply remember them in a glow of blue light, the blue light of the night when everything is peaceful rather than sad. When the memories are coated in this calming light they become 'experiences' to be remembered because in each of them a lesson was learned in the ever-ending learning process of living life.
Yin Yang: A play on the two primal opposing but complementary principles of the Yin and Yang in the being of Woman
Falling in Love: When eyes lock into each other and funny things start to happen inside your body, you're falling in love. The painting is influenced by 2 Paul McCartney songs...'Coming Up' and 'Maybe I'm Amazed". You see the couple coming up, like a flower, from the black void of nothing into love, and the look of amazement at the new found feelings.
Recorded Memories: Our databank of recorded memories contained in the vault of our mind is large, multi-colored, multi-textured and indexed to our many experiences in life. In the case of this painting it is recorded memories of one moment of love, sex, and complication of emotions involved
Dream Lover: Dream lover where are you. As the lyrics from the song says. We are all looking and dreaming of our dream lover, partner, and soul mate. In this painting I have used the woman as the central figure and the image of the male and female flowing from her closed yes and a vortex of a dream.
Fever: "You give me Fever". The flame, heat amd passion of love, desire and lust.
Making Music: Making music is like making love. You experience a wide range of sensual feelings, emotions, textures, passions and ultimate satisfaction when it all comse together well.
Lovely Ladies: You know who you are.
Heat of the Night: When passions are released and fire burns through until the light of day.
Bedroom Blitz: The Intensive and overwhelming bombardment of sensulaity, love, passion and feelings that are released in the bedroom.
Adam and Eve: The first Man and Woman. Naked and alone in a sea of passion. Or at least it would be nice to imagine the scenario.
Hombre: A Man in Spain at the crossroads of life.
Eye Contact: When two eyes meet and and the passion is ignited.
Where are you looking?: An observation of where a man's eyes are when he meet a buxom beauty.
Flower Child: She grows wild and free.
4 Nudes: 4 female nudes and the complexity of the woman both soothing and tumultuous.
Mediterranean Madness: Complex woman, blue skies, turmoil, multi faceted personalities, the macho men, tropical surroundings, the heat and the tranquility, the wide spaces of life on the Mediterranean are gathered on this canvas.
The Siren: Tempting and dangerous yet possessed of powers that captivate the hearts of men.
Secret Passion: What a woman projects with one look is not always indicative of her true sensuality and passion.
The Flirt: With a sly wink of the eye she uses her full sexuality to entice the opposite sex.
Lips: The meeting of sensual lips of lovers. The instruments of lust, pleasure, affection, love, and intimacy.
Lip to Lip: the second in the "lip" Series. Dancing lip to Lip rather than cheek to cheek.
3 Lips: the third in the "lip" Series, hence 3 lips.
69 Lips: the fourth in the "lip" Series.
Back to Back Lips: the fifith in the "lip" Series.
Circle of Lips: the sixth in the "lip" Series.
Four Corner Lips: the seventh in the "lips" Series.
Three's a Crowd: the eighth in the "lip" Series.
Loving Lips: the ninth in the "lip" Series.
Crowded Lips: the tenth in the "lip" Series.
Lips Triage: the eleventh in the "lip" Series.
The Hierarchy of Women: The woman on the right appears like the mother of all Divas. She has a serious, unshaken, but soft look in her eyes and half a smile on half of her beautiful red lips. She shows off her perfectly standing breasts partially in a black outfit. This is the part she reveals of herself. The other half of her face and personality remains a mystery, a fact which makes her alluring and stirs curiosity. She is powerful, elegant, soft, tempting, confident and mysterious, like a diva-queen. Yet she stays out of the spotlight. In the center of the work are the others. Those who are in constant rivalry behind her back, they smile and gossip, compliment and manipulate, they also conspire against her.
It’s a women’s world: The hierarchy of women, the intrigues of women..
Las Lágrimas de una Guerra Civil: Tears of a Civil War. The painting was influenced by my time in Spain and reading of the Spanish Civil War. It transcends to all Civil Wars where brothers fight brothers and the tears that are shed both in battle and in the aftermath of reconciliation.
6 Lips: the twelfth in the "lip" Series.
Reminisce: Remembering and reliving special moments.
Time Immemorial: Time immemorial is a phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition, indefinitely ancient, "ancient beyond memory or record"
Alive: The work represents the struggle of the Jewish people from the darkness of the Holocaust (on the left side of the canvas) to modern day Israel (on the right).
The left shows the darkness of the past with the theme of colors and the six sets of eyes behind the bars and the six strips representing the six million. The face in yellow is how the Jews were identified by the yellow star. The right side shows the wailing wall, a kipa, the blue sky, blue seas and green of the land of Israel. The red above is the ever present danger which hovers over the country.
Elusive Peace: Throughout history the Jewish people have sought to live in peace with their neighbours and to this day peace has been elusive. Yet the desire remains and hope for peace still lingers in the Jewish soul in Israel.
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