Current Work
While planning this painting I was thinking of the layers of trauma experienced by myself and other Gay men during their lives. Contributing to these thoughts were several discussions and presentations on YouTube related to this issue. This painting is a summary of my thoughts on the subject, and is dedicated to the sometimes traumatic lives of Gay men.
Trauma is central in my image of the burning child, while the two major figures express some of it's effects. The man on the left expresses vulnerability and need, while the man on the right symbolizes self-destructive anger. As Gay men we've all had to walk on water at some point during our lives. The odd flower-like structure between vulnerability and anger is a depiction of an actual organism. It is dedicated to those of us who have spent much of our lives searching for the perfect orgasm. Skyward and out of reach is the longed for super man, bringer of joy and healer of pain.
Everything else in this picture , including the two corsages in front, is there for decorative reasons only. Although I've come to think of the chimera on the arch as the hood ornament on James Dean's Porsche.