Location: United States
My oil and mixed media pastel and gouache paintings are stylized images that tell my passion for nature and the environment and depict my concern for the threats of climate change. I show how native fauna and flora interact and survive in adverse surroundings. When Mother Nature challenges us with extreme weather patterns, she reminds us that the beauty of our environment is at stake. Birds tell our story of survival, love, danger, strength, and vulnerability. With Covid-19, my message has become more exacerbated, and the need to narrate has become visceral. I paint visual stories of a world on the edge:
The story of the danger of the denial of climate change.
The story of Nature’s resilience and beauty even after the abuse we have been inflicting upon her.
The story of Nature ‘s anger challenging us with extreme weather patterns: fires, earthquakes, floods, winter storms, hurricanes and more.
The story of our home, torn by conflict and mistrust.
The story of the fear of the other, the foe who is different and who will deconstruct you.
The story of a new normal.
I paint stylized representational images from which exude an allegorical quality. I want my work to be confrontational and emotionally charged. I aim at engaging the viewer with surprise, doubt and curiosity and raising many conversations in these challenging times.
I want them to be poignant and confrontational and raise the question of our global situation in these disturbing times.
I paint poetry.
My oil and mixed media pastel and gouache paintings are stylized representational images from which exude an allegorical quality. They depict a state of mind in which the boundaries between dream and reality have become very fluid.
Oil on canvas, 24"30"
Seagull in disarray trapped in fire. A memory of the 2017 Northern California fires and a comment on global warming
Oil on canvas, 20"x24"
Crow watching destruction caused by human beings. A comment on war and global warming
oil on canvas, 36"x24"
Crow trapped in fire
A memory of the 2017 Northern California fires and a comment on global warming
The visionary sees the future. But here the visionary is viewing you, the Other he feels as a threat.
When i was in Rome, I saw a lot of seagulls. They were very aggressive getting food from the tourists. What were they doing there?
Rome is not on the seashore. They had lost their habitat, being in the wong place, due to human doing. The painting is depicting a bird who is not in the house, but not outside either. You can"t tell where she belongs.
The walls of a house take abstract forms, mirroring the chaos caused by human conflict. The garden, too, lies in disarray. Amidst all of this, the bee emerges as a symbol of hope. I want to invite the viewer to refect and pause, and to find solace in the delicate balance betweendestruction and renewal.
In the midst of debris caused by human conflict, sits a form that vaguely suggests a face. I actually was looking at a rottening grapefruit as I suddenly saw a face . I thought it could be a microscopical wiew of a virus, but when I showed the painting to a friend of mine she perceived a macroscopic image of the world.
This painting is part of a series I did I describe as "emtional landscapes." Hearing a lot on how casually the Russians mention the possibility of a nuclear attack, I started imaging how surreal the landscape could appear. I got fascinated by the effect of a strange light showing through burned trees. In this painting, I want to depict an unusual atmosphere. Yet there is a sense of stillness, and the heron stands alone, strong. The beauty of nature stands in its resilience.
Inspired by the image of dead leaves on water and the scene of burnt trees after a fire, I sought in this artwork to convey a sense of ambiguity . Is the wind carrying the leaves, or are they floating on water? The viewer is left to wonder and question what they see.
My mixed media work of gouache and pastel on paper is loose. The process involves a slow addition of layers starting with gouache, and then going in with pastel, alternating back and forth with the two media. The application of paint and pastel is controlled but also gestural. I splatter with fan brushes, tooth brushes and scrape with a palette knife. As in my oil work, I seek depth and richness.
“The Sky cries in my lonely Heart”
A bird standing alone in the rain and in the cold.
I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known. iI don't know where it goes, but it is home and I stand alone.
Pastel and gouache painting on paper. The portrait of a woman wrapped in butterfly wings.
Pastel and gouache painting on watercolor paper, 19"x15"
A couple of crows struggling together for survival in a snow storm. A comment on global warming.
“Im-Migration Series: Self Portrait of an Immigrant”
Pastel and gouache painting on watercolor paper, 15"x19.5"
Self portrait as a monarch butterfly. A comment on immigration and the Dreamers.
Pastel and gouache painting on paper, 18"x15"
Small finch rapped in fire. A memory of the 2017 Northern California fires, a comment on global warming
“Fear”
“The witness”
“No Way Out”
“The Visionary”
“Homeless”
“Hope”
“A World in Debris”
“Alone”
“Whirlin Enigma”
“Poetry of Renewal”
“Of Love and Survival 1”
“Vulnerable”
