Venice Beach Chorus Line, 2004, 21’h x 34’w, Ocean Front Walk, Venice. CA.
In Canaletto’s Venice: Seven graduating seniors from Venice High School were dressed in period costumes and posed as tourists and gondolier (the school mascot). The group portrait was superimposed on a rendition of a Canaletto painting of the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.
In Canaletto’s Venice, 2001, 15’h x 18’w, sponsored by a grant from Venice High School.
The famous painting, Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper, is the subject of an equally famous art parody, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, by Gottfried Helnwein. One Westside, located at the entrance to a mall in West Los Angeles, carries references to both and adds a self-portrait of the artist as a soda jerk idolizing Marilyn and Bogie from behind the counter.
One Westside , 2002, 12’h x 40’w.
The Art Paradox is a Percent for Art project painted on the exterior wall of a parking structure, the mural rises above and behind the signs and billboards on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles. The viewer pieces together the three parts of the trompe l’oeil composition that reads, “Art does not read like a sentence.”
The Art Paradox: Art Does Not Read Like a Sentence, 1999, 30’h x 120’w.
The MET Theatre Community Bulletin Board was painted from photographs of a bulletin board installed at the MET theater as part of the project. The bulletin board documents the involvement of local residents and the theater group. The mural shows bits and pieces of the Hollywood community from the summer of 1998. Like the treasures of a time capsule, everything in the mural is given status as artifacts of the time and place. The project combines fine art, history and community with a strategy that integrates diverse ethnic and cultural interests under the umbrella of public art.
MET Theatre Community Bulletin Board, 1998, 12h x 18’w.
Alphabet Block Construction, 1997, lifeguard tower, painted with the help of Venice High School students.
The goal for community mural projects is to create cultural icons that embody the values associated with the site. Venice Beach Chorus Line symbolically represents the free-spirited camaraderie of Venice with the half-man half-animal characters of a cultural transformation myth. The mural incorporates Cubist and Futurist compositional devices that fragment and animate cartoon-like figures in a street art medium. Venice Beach Chorus Line explores the kinetic potential of two-dimensional art as a way to capture the eclectic flavor and excitement of the Venice Boardwalk.
Hobnobbing in Venice, 2006.
Hoi Polloi, 2007, Danny’s Deli, Venice B each, CA.
California Classical, 2000, 40’h x 400’w, view looking East. The mural is painted in a narrow alley.
Portraits of Endurance, 2005, sprayed enamel on fuel tanks, featuring runners from the ultramarathon, “The 2005 Western States 100”.
Starry Knight, repainted in 2012, Ocean Front Walk, Venice. CA..
Morning Shot, repainted in 2012 to match a newly rendered background by local graffiti artists, 35’h x 10’w, Speedway, Venice, CA.
Portrait of Abbot Kinney, 2004, 50’h x 20’w, tribute to the founder of Venice.
Jim Morris, 2014, 8’ x 15’.
Lenda Murray 2014, 10’ x 6’
Lenda Murray, 2014, location shot.
The Understander, 2014, 8’ x 8’.
Kera, 2014, 14’ x 21’.
Venice Kinesis, 2010, Speedway, Venice, CA.
Theatre Steps Community Portrait, 1998, 10.5’ x 31.5’, Oxford Ave., Hollywood, CA.
Olsen and Associates Group Portrait (details showing 8 of 35 life-size standing figures), 1994, 6.5’h x 50’w, unstretched canvas.
Alps Panorama, 1994, 6.5’h x 35’w, unstretched canvas.
Portrait of Lou Reed, 1993, 20’w x 30’h, temporary installation (in progress), from photograph by Gottfried Helwein, in conjunction with Helwein exhibition.
Tanz im Moulin de la Galette, 1993, 16’w x 6’h, construction site mural, companion piece to Cronk After Renoir.
Cronk After Renoir, 1993, 20’w x 28’h, vinyl canvas stretched over scaffolding .
The Mona Lisa Parodies were incorporated into the feature film ”Clean Slate”, starring Velaria Golina and Dana Carvey, as the subject of a running gag. The director, Mick Jackson, had the mural theme written into the existing script to capture the spirit of Venice, then contacted me to paint the series. Nine versions were painted on portable brick facades on a soundstage in Culver City, then transported to the Venice Boardwalk where they were temporarily installed for the shoot. Velaria Golina is featured in the final version (top left).
Mona Lisa Parodies, 1993. 14’h x12’w, three of nine produced for the feature film, Clean Slate.
Picasso Parody, 1992, 20’w x 30’h, temporary installation (in progress).
Portrait of Phillippe Starck, 1992, 20’w x 30’h, temporary installation (in progress).
Morning Shot, 1991, 12’w x 35’h, portrait of Jim Morrison.
The Steel Doors Mural Project included the art work of over twenty local artists and graffiti writers. The artwork was chosen by the artists and painted after-hours on the security roll-up doors of beachfront businesses along the Venice Boardwalk. The project was sponsored by a local civic group, the Venice Action Committee. The Steel Doors project was well received and successfully incorporated outsider art and artists into the mainstream Venice community.
War Game, 1990, part of the “Steel Doors Mural Project”.
Art patron Werner Scharff requested a trompe l'oeil mural that included a portrait of the artist at work. This is a popular theme in mural art, so I decided to give it a twist. In the composition, the building front is painted from the perspective of the viewer on the boardwalk. This is the first of three overlapping illusions. In the second, the artist is painted defacing the mural with the graffiti tag of "Venice". The third trompe l'oeil reality is a set of windows painted as if looking out from the wall. These match an existing set of windows within the picture plane. Passersby unravel the overlapping realities as they approach the location.
Venice Beach, 1990, 38’h x 33’w.
Ocean Swell, 1990, 11’h x 35’w.
Homage to a Starry Knight, 1990, 17’h x 37’w.
Venice Reconstituted, 1989, 21’h x 100’w. SPARC commission, assistants: Juan Burgueno Jr, Elizabeth Tenchavez, Bruce Smith, Dimitree Kadiev and Mishell Caldwell.
The trompe l’oeil painting creates a more convincing illusion than a photograph. We never mistake the photographic image for the real thing, but the hyperrealistic painting repeatedly pulls the viewer into perceptual confusion that leaves him pondering the nature of perceived reality. The trompe l’oeil painting evokes a stronger identification with the subject matter because it is more anthropomorphic. It enlivens the viewer experience as it focuses attention on the interface between realism and abstraction, and on the myth of objectivity that supports our perception of reality.
Lost Art, 1989, 22’h x 22’w.
Venice on the Half Shell, 1981.
