This is my brother Blaine. He died by a gun 15 years ago. He and I grew up shooting in youth clubs and his passion throughout his life was competitive target shooting.

The words are the NRA bylaws.

“Blaine” 60″ x 37″  Ink on panel

Detail:

Mike was drafted into the army in 1968 during the Vietnam War. He served in the 1st Calvary as a helicopter gunner and was shot down by a rocket after 8 months.

The text Is The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964 which authorized the use of conventional military forces in Vietnam without a Declaration of War by Congress. 1968 was the year of the Tet Offensive which proved to be the turning point of U.S. involvement.

“Mike” Ink on panel  60″ x 37″

Detail:

Angelin is the daughter of my friends who are first generation Mexican Immigrants.

The text is the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which was the first federal law to ban an entire ethnic group from immigrating to the United States

“Angelin”  Ink on panel 60″ x 37″

Detail:

The dynamics of moving water reveal an unseen treasure

A wave breaks in the deep blue sea revealing prone figure that vanishes as quickly as it appears

I am getting closer to depicting the human form in my latest water series. I use hundreds of layers of subtle color to bury the light deep in the painting.

Another piece in an ongoing series interpreting water and its movement and interaction with air. I am playing with value and color. Specifically, the background is closer in value to the following layers depicting air. Most of the light and form are from the back.

A continuation of my exploration of water.

This is Justine, in the 1930’s her great grandmother moved her family from New York to the Watts neighborhood in south Los Angeles amid a backdrop of intense racial discrimination. One of the many faces this discrimination took was in the form of housing covenants, deed restrictions and extralegal measures that restricted minorities from living in many parts of Los Angeles. They were limited by covenants as well as a narrow access to financing known as redlining. These covenants were a part of southern California housing since the late nineteenth century and they were struck down partially in 1948 and then completely in 1953.

The words I chose to use in the formation of this portrait are sections from current residential deeds that still to this day contain the covenants restricting ownership to whites only, though they lack any legal standing. I also chose to use the words from the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Justine stands as a testament to her family’s strength and tenacity in the face of a system of governance that is biased against them.

“Justine”  60″x37″ Ink on panel

Detail:

This is Elon, “My father survived the Holocaust but lost his entire immediate family. His mother and two sisters were victims of an SS roundup and mass execution. His father was killed by Ukrainian militia, right in front of him. It’s my responsibility to bear witness for all of them.”

The words are the Nuremberg Race Laws  of 1935. The Nazis implemented these laws to ostracize, discriminate and expel Jews from German society.

Elon stands in defiance of this injustice.

The weight of history is carried by the generations that follow. May we never repeat this history

60″ x 37″ Ink on panel

Detail: