Imagekind Gallery Paintings

Eeek! 2

Eeek! 2 – acrylic, pastels, and pencil on gallery canvas. Original pop graffiti abstract painting measures 36" x 60". I like creating a little conflict in my work. Here I've cast a retro-era Robin "The Boy Wonder", pitted him against foes, surrounded him with riddles and challenges, symbols and icons of power, and some of his superhero weaponry and gadgets. I think the struggle to be more human than human is interesting.

Phone Sex

I finished this painting right before a show in 1999. I think it was in the gallery 10 minutes when an art dealer purchased it. Sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone. This was an abstraction about personal connections.

Novelty of Life

This painting is a commentary on artificial life – I think it will become a real part of our culture within the next few decades. This painting was inspired by one of the first artificial life products, 1957's Instant Life or as it was known after it was renamed in 1962 – Sea Monkeys. Although I always believed it was just monkey eggs and water, I was fascinated by the sci-fi ingredients that seemed liked they were out of a B-movie, and how salt was used to stimulate reproduction. The original comicbook advertisements promised that these miniature creatures were actually trainable. It makes be wonder what brave new future we have waiting for us and what fantastic claims they will make.

The Amazing Batman

In the back of a 1964 comicbook was a picture of Batman, pimped out in an illusionist turban as though he’d become some kind of mystic genie. I felt a little sorry for him having to endure the desperate whims of comicbook creator. As though he was powerful enough to defeat any villain, but helpless against these characters who would put him in ridiculous costumes and situations to keep him relevant and interesting. I merged and contrasted this with my own personal diaries in the background, where I struggled as a boy from another planet trying understand my identity when everyone around me simply wanted me to be normal.

The Boy Wonder

Being Batman’s sidekick isn’t everything they promise in the recruiting videos. This painting focused on the disintegration and destruction of Robin the Boy Wonder. The TV show glamourized him like he was one of the Monkees, and I reimagined him to be a darker character spending most of his childhood dealing with death and crime, feeling disturbed and hardened, and oppressed by Batman’s overbearing presence.

eeeek!

This painting was inspired by all the Batman comic books at TV episodes I ingested as a kid. I remember in the Batcave every device or appliance had a huge label identifying it - I guess the dynamic-duo had really poor memories - but I always thought it was funny so I incorporated it here. It just communicated such a huge dependence on technology, as though if they were stripped of their costumes and technology they became powerless. And maybe, that if you climbed into their costumes you could be super too.

VRRF

When I was a kid I was completely convinced that I was a martian trapped on Earth. I've always put faith in signs and talismans and this painting is a reflection of that, and also marked a turning point or a crossroads after I suffered a head injury and afterwards started hearing voices and being able to read peoples minds. I saw the sign or something like it in an old film noir movie, it was some weird code I was obsessed to decipher. In the end I just liked the mystery of it.

Germ 3

I read a book called the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and I became literally obsessed about the ideas in there. It was as though our genes had an agenda entirely there own and completely unknown to us. Like we were passengers in a car, but not the car itself. And like a toy steering wheel we couldn’t really steer ourselves anywhere, but simply witness what was happening. It made me think that in our bodies, our genes and DNA were really the king.

Qwerty

We Are Going Somewhere

The Boxers

Weird Science

I think as humans we seen ourselves as the chosen ones. But like a desperate child we also seem to have a stong desire to prove ourselves and set ourselves apart from animals and other creatures. So the painting is about God watching as we try and understand and evolve his creation, and improve on imperfections we see. But I didn’t want this to feel cynical or ominous. I think there’s a hopefulness attached to it, as though we find one day find God hiding within our cells.

Robot Dog

Irresistible / Virus 1

Aliens, abduction, flying saucers, invasion. Abstract painting.

Ruby Red Slippers

The things you desire will consume you.

Skin Deep

This painting was about global conflict and prejudice and I was inspired by a battle scene on the cover of a 1930s Amazing Stories pulp magazine. The painting also incorporate some 1960s japanese comicbook cutout elements.

They Rotate

I was in a trance when I made this painting. "They rotate" was this ominous chant in my head. I was thinking about flying saucers, hearing voices in my head, and playing LP records backwards. I guess I felt like I was waiting for something, and listening to the static for clues.

Everything that Happened Before You Arrived

I love grafitti and this is another of my favorite paintings. Sometimes being introspective and moody pays off. This painting has some 1960's Japanese Astroboy comics integrated and I was really happy how kinetic it turned out.

Big Cheef

Voodoo

War is Here / God is warming his hands on the fire.