ORANGES/SARDINES

I was inspired by a few things to make this series.

The first spark came from Frank O’Hara’s poem Why I Am Not a Painter which reminded me that art, at its heart, is something we make with and for our friends. The poem is also about the abstractness of painting and of poems. A fun connection because what do we really know?

This poem gives me the reminder that artists are mostly making art for and with friends. This is an important point in the research of one of my best friends who writes about the artists in NYC in the 70s. And guess, what?? He dedicated a book to me!!! I consider this a once in a life time gift, on the magnitude of wedding rings. Anyway, it gets at the feeling of feeling inspired and inspiring others. 

Another inspiration was Matisse, I love his work. Most specifically, I hadn't really ever noticed how he handled fruits before. But he's got some apples where perspective is really distorted and that's interesting to me. And, he's got the simplest orbs in some paintings with figures and my brain still knows there are fruits there. It's amazing really – how little information we can give the eye + brain and still have them make sense of it all.

The feeling of friendship and togetherness hits in this time when it is our communities that matter and can save us from fascism. I wand viewers to take away the feeling of hope and of lightness. What is heavy is lightened through friendship. That's something I know for sure.