This is a portrait of Devon. Devon’s grandparents bought a home in the Crenshaw District in 1950, a few years after their illegal imprisonment in the Rowher, Arkansas concentration camp during World War Two. Two years earlier, a portion of the 1913 Alien Land Law was overturned, which enabled Devon’s grandparents the right to buy their 11^th Avenue house. Prior to 1948, their right to buy and own a home would have been compromised by the 1913 Alien Land law which disallowed anyone “ineligible to citizenship” from owning or leasing land in California.  The Alien Land Laws were specifically tailored to restrict property rights for all Japanese living in California.

The marks that compose the portrait are the words from the Webb Haney Alien Act, which was the first Alien Land law from 1913. The second Alien land law came in 1920 and closed existing loopholes

I am honored  that LA Metro/Metro Art commissioned this portrait to be included in their permanent collection. They have been featuring their collection in multi format programs across the county to their ridership.

They will be featuring the work in a show titled  “We Are…Portraits of Metro Riders by Local Artists”.  It will be on view in the Union Station Passage way Art Gallery and online at: 

https://www.metro.net/weare

The show points out the diversity of the community of Metro riders and is presented by Metro Art in collaboration with Metro’s Office of Civil Rights, Racial Equality & Inclusion and the Communication Department.

“Devon” 34 x 27 ink on panel

“Orangutan” 24 x 72

Orangutan in its natural environment in Sumatra as it is being cut up and destroyed

“Maple Fall” 36×72

Three paintings to make one. Another in my environment series where I fracture the landscapes, cut them up and tear them apart, and reassemble them into an incomplete whole.

Gregory’s great, great, great, grandmother “Frankie” was sold into slavery at the Manchester Slave Docks in what is now Ancarrow’s Landing on the James River in Virginia in the 1840’s.

Slavery was first brought to America in 1619 in the colony of Virginia and grew into the 1700’s to become the dominant labor system on plantations.

During the 1660s Virginia adopted laws specifically designed to denigrate blacks. These laws banned interracial marriages and sexual relations and deprived blacks of property. The text is from four of those Laws from Virginia State Law”Gregory”

60×37 ink on panel

Detail:

A nice write up by Claire Murphy in The Santa Clara following up on a show I did at the De Saisset Museum on the campus of Santa Clara University.

Continue reading the Article

“Solitude” 48×36 acrylic on panel. I am working on a series of paintings that cuts, disassembles and reconstructs the natural landscape. I severe the landscape of trees and nature and place them one on top of each other, breaking their continuity, while bending and merging what remains. The juxtaposition of the two worlds reveals the struggle we face today with the future of our planet dependent on our ability to balance the increasing demand for resources and the needs of the natural world.

I continue in the environment series with this piece and an accompanying video that delves into the artist statement

I recently finished this video that features a narrative explaining some of the concepts behind the painting

Another portrait of my father based on a photograph taken by Dorothea Lange as Japanese Americans on the West coast were gathered up and sent to prison during World War II.

The text is the California Alien Land Law of 1913 which targeted mostly Japanese farmers who were “aliens ineligible for citizenship” and prohibited them from owning agricultural land or possessing long-term leases over it.

Ink on panel 40″ x 34″, 2021

Detail:

A continuation of my environment series that fractures landscapes and environments and attempts to reassemble them.