Apposites Attract paintings explore balancing dualities more directly than my previous work. The most obvious exploration is the formal balance of abstraction with recognizable forms. The color balance is also important, the hot intense alive colors contrasted with with the cooler more “cerebral” investigation found in earlier work.

The paintings are acrylic on canvas, paper and wood. In order to visually enhance the exploration of differences there are three distinct sizes: 10"x12", 20"x24", and 72"x80" or larger.

The representational elements used in these paintings are based on a number of images that I have repeated in my work over the years. An example of a repeated image is the rhesus macaque monkey. This monkey is from a fascinating specimen I came across some time back. Just before the turn of the last century this animal died of old age at a zoo. For unknown reasons it was autopsied and preserved in a specially made glass jar. This jar can never be opened without destroying the specimen. The one of a kind jar is sealed by an irreplaceable gasket. The creature is thus immersed in formaldehyde, crammed in the specimen jar for ever. This image and others are used in the work not only as interesting elements in their own right but as symbols.

My past series have investigated the melting of snow/ice, a process that revealed hidden things; emerging from water, from earth; from an earlier series that focused on fossils - the beauty of things so old and their effect on humanity for reflection; the unearthing of fossils; the process of their discovery; the discovery of our past; its connections to our future; what we will leave behind for the ages; a dialogue about nature/environment’s effect on humanity and vice versa - both spiritual and corporeal. Some of these strains continue through the new work. However, it is only my thoughts about the work and not necessarily what someone else would or should see in it. I value viewers’ individual insights.