Minor Characters and Sympathetic Criminals

But now the main character, a puppet named Lorelei, is just one among the many strugglers depicted, – among weavers, workers, pickpockets, policemen, idlers, and occupiers. Lorelei and the others are pinned into their architecture, their circumstances figuratively and literally. They get by, though barely, in some mysterious space where narrative and abstraction meet. Sometimes the architecture looms over them like a reminding metaphor or becomes the character itself.

Still employing the traditional old master oil painting techniques that were present in the
previous work, the color palette has now lowered and deepened a few octaves, with more attention to color interaction. The process involves establishing a form, then seeking out the actual concrete piece in the world. This series can be seen as reflecting a more solemn time, both publicly and personally.

I plan to expand on my previous themes of characters at work, to create a series of paintings of both the energy of work and the sad idleness of empty architecture. I will continue using puppets for stand-ins, bulding sets for metaphoric architecture to use as triggers. Combining old master techniques but with ramshackle content I will try to re-invent notion of Still and Not So Still Lives from the characters in the studio warehouse complex called the Giant Trade Center in San Pablo and have it open as an off-site exhibition