Recent Commissions
Early in my career I realized Pop art had the potential to be a proactive force in society. Pop art displayed an existential quality that could be appreciated by everyone and it retained its fine art context outside the gallery. It was accessible culture. For me, in the overlap of high art and popular culture lay the unturned stones of future directions in art. I cast off the esoteric shackles of Modernism in search of new syntheses of art in society. I have painted private and public murals, organized and participated in graffiti projects, painted murals as movie sets and painted a lifeguard stand as art. I have painted art on gallery walls and on exterior walls in conjunction with gallery openings with grand scale photorealism featuring contributing artists. I have incorporated students, graffiti artists, movie directors, gallery directors, building owners and community leaders in projects that bring the context of fine art to the public in innovative ways.
1/07: Hoi Polloi, 8’h x 24’w, 10 Windward Ave., Venice, CA.
10/06: Hobnobbing in Venice, 8’h x 24’w, 10 Windward Ave., Venice, CA.
8/05: Portraits of Endurance, five tanks 30’h x 10’d, assistant: Vic
Edmisten, Nevada St., Auburn, CA.
10/04: Portrait of Abbot Kinney, 50’ x 20’, Venice Blvd., Venice, CA.
1/04: Venice Beach Chorus Line, 21’ x 34’, Ocean Front Walk and
Clubhouse Ave., Venice, CA.
7/02: One Westside, 12’ x 40’, Sawtelle Blvd., Santa Monica, CA.
4/01: In Canaletto’s Venice, 15’ x 18’, Venice High School, Venice, CA.
3/00: California Classical, 40’ x 400’, Wilshire Blvd. (alley), Los
Angeles, CA.
10/99: The Art Paradox, 30’ x 120’, Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
6/99: Aztlan Floor, 18’ x 75’, lead artist, Social and Public Art Resource
Center, Venice, CA.
11/98: Theatre Steps Community Portrait, 10.5’ x 31.5’, Oxford Ave.,
Hollywood, CA.
9/98: MET Theatre Community Bulletin Board, 12’ x 18’, assistants:
Greg Arutunyan, Hayley Buchbinder, Ross Carrell, Jerry Chow,
Claire Gordon and Organes Vardanyan, Oxford Ave.,
Hollywood, CA.
6/97: Alphabet Block Construction, painted lifeguard tower, assistants:
Jesse Cuevas, Miriam Eden, Margo Fownes, Armondo Galvan,
Sharon F. Gephart, Merary Herrera, Doria Krohn, Marie
O’Halloran, Yurira Ugalde and Ira Williams, Marina del Rey, CA.
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 the contexts of 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.
Portrait of Abbot Kinney, 2004, 50’h x 20’w, tribute to the founder of Venice.
Alphabet Block Construction, 1997, lifeguard tower, painted with the help of Venice High School students.
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.
Hobnobbing in Venice, 2006.
Hoi Polloi, 2007.
Hoi Polloi, 2007, detail.
There is a significant difference in the response to gallery art and the wall-painted mural. Gallery art is removed from the viewer’s world. The space between them is discontinuous. By contrast, the viewer identifies with the mural as part of the community. The wall painting attaches a fine art context to the locality in a way that framed art cannot. The mural becomes part of the wall and a literal extension of the community, as opposed to an art object mounted on the wall that can be removed and resold. Painting and encountering the wall are contiguous acts with potential to produce a vital experience not available to gallery art. A stronger bond exists between artist’s intent and viewer’s perception. Mural art is an energized visual language equally connected to fine art and community. The community-based wall-painted mural carries the art historical context of fine art and has the added advantage of maintaining the context of the environment of which it is a part.
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.
There is no set procedure for arriving at a design concept. Each project is different. The specifics of the project, including the expected audience, size and shape of the wall, optimal viewing areas, flow of traffic, history of the location, contemporary events, community interests, community demographics and interests of the sponsor all come together in the design process. The project may or may not include input from community members or participation by contributing artists. When applicable, the artist incorporates community collaboration in the production of art, but not as the end in itself. Aesthetically determined art preserves the role of lead artist, his vision, skill set and technical expertise, as a way to ensure the vitality of the art object. For the artist, the appeal of the egalitarian approach is the challenge of incorporating the many variables of site and community.
Communities take pride in their distinguishing features and share in their desire for an identity independent of mainstream society. The movement to generate collective cultural values at the local level is facilitated by the artist. The neighborhood mural engenders pride, empowers the community and elevates the community’s status in society. The goal of the public muralist is to create a cultural icon symbolically featuring the ideals and strivings of the community with art designed for the particular location.
California Classical, 2000, 40’h x 400’w, view looking East. The mural in painted in a narrow alley.
The artist is part innovator, part facilitator. The symbols for integration into the community emerge as the artist studies local culture and becomes familiar with the site. During the creation of the aesthetically determined community mural, the artist spans the apparent contradiction between autonomy and social involvement. This is essentially an ethical quandary. As the artist discovers the iconic symbol for the collective spirit of the community, the ethical gap between personal choice and social responsibility is bridged. It appears as a paradox from the outside, but for the artist, at the moment of inspiration, hedonism and altruism become one. Similarly, the response of the viewer during the art encounter is the basis for developing a personal ethic that is socially responsible within the community.
Portraits of Endurance, 2005, sprayed enamel on fuel tanks, featuring runners from the ultramarathon, “The 2005 Western States 100”.
In Canaletto’s Venice: Seven graduating seniors from Venice High School, selected to match the demographics of the student body, dressed in period costumes and posed as tourists and gondolier (the school mascot). Their portraits were 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.
