This
suite of paintings grew out of a prolonged engagement with the interior
garden in our modest home. I had been drawn to this green, light-filled
space since we had moved into the new house, and when my wife suggested
I do a painting for our living room: “something which mixes up the
interior with the exterior,” the idea of bringing the garden in and us
out immediately grabbed me. I set to work and “interior/exterior” was
born. It seemed to me that I was on fertile new ground. A self-portrait
and two other paintings soon followed, but by this time I had become
truly enchanted by a particular plant in the garden. Known as “la
piñonona,” its large forking leaves yearned upwards. Soon its ascension
became my own. Somehow its striving heavenward became identified with my
own struggles for growth. As I watered the garden so I watered my soul –
and we burgeoned! I believe it was the poet Elizabeth Barret Browning
who spoke of her ‘vegetal love,’ and for the first time I began to see
what she meant. I too grew slowly and sought the sun which was my love…
The
garden has become, over the last two years, a rich metaphor for my
secret soul, there at the center – my soul and my home. A place of
refuge and growth, striving and peaceful solitude. It is with a joyous
heart that I make these paintings, at last, available for public
viewing. I have seen my soul, and thrown its colors, and it is beauty,
and it is light – freedom and a strong place to rest and refresh.
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| Bassia |
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| David |
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| Kathy |
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| la piñonona sube #1 |
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| la piñonona sube #2 |
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| la piñonona sube #6 |
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| la piñonona sube #7 |
