Sisters
watercolor 27" x 32"
I love the contrast between these girls. One is open and friendly, the other is seems wary. The unsmiling sister had just lost a front tooth and was concerned that her smile would reveal the gap.
Children with a Shopping Cart
oil 28" x 35"
I saw this group of children on Lynn Common. It struck me that adults are always dissatisfied with their lives while kids tend to live in the moment and enjoy what they have.
Field Trip to Red Rock
watercolor 30' x 41"
I spent hours exploring tide pools at Red Rock when I was a kid, and part of the fun was clambering across the rocks without falling in.
Pick-Up Game on Sanderson Ave
watercolor 40" x 60"
This friendly game seemed to suggest some less friendly rivalry. My work often suggests an undercurrent of potential conflict, either physically or emotionally, in human relationships.
Ailanthus, Tree of Heaven
oil 43" x 54"
This is a scene constructed from several different photos, with some made-up elements. To get the shadows right I constructed a foam board porch with mannequins and cast a light on it.
Outbound
color pencil 36" x 50"
I was present one day at a scene of an overdose on a subway platform. It haunted me, and I asked a friend to pose in the same position so that I could create this drawing. The loneliness of the scene, with the track stretching into the distance and a woman walking away without looking back, acknowledges both the fate of the addict and the people whose lives are disrupted by the addiction. Sometimes walking away is all you can do.
Cycles
watercolor 27" x 22"
Sleep Walker
lumograph pencil 36" x 30"
Midnight
watercolor and graphite 21" x 27"
Lost City
watercolor 9" x 12"
Rage
watercolor and graphite 9" x 12"
Balance
watercolor 9" x 11"
Grooms at Suffolk Downs
Groom Feeding a Racehorse
conte crayon on toned paper 27" x 22"
Groom with a Cat
conte crayon 24" x 18"
Groom Hosing Down a Racehorse
conte crayon 18" x 15"
Portrait of a Groom
conte crayon and pastel 20" x 18"
Groom with a Newspaper
gouache on toned paper 19" x 23"
Halloween Dogs, Salem
oil 26" x 48"
The Kiss
oil 30" x 72"
Toy Dog
watercolor 14" x 17"
Halloween Dogs parade, After September 11th
watercolor 14" x 17"
Hula and Bee
watercolor 11" x 9"
Super-Dog!
watercolor 11" x 9"
A whippet I knew once aspired
To be super-hero attired
To rescue his master
From any disaster
Was all that the whippet desired
Portrait of a Farmer
pastel 22" x 20"
Selling Up
watercolor 18" x 24"
Four Farmers
watercolor 14" x 17"
Watching the Sale
watercolor 14" x 17"
Abandoned Farmhouse
watercolor 14" x 17"
Circus Paintings
My Season With the Circus
My season with the circus came about after I graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and needed a focus for my interest in documentary art. When I saw an ad for a cook for the Big Apple Circus, I contacted them and asked if they had any other jobs available. The equestrian Katja Schumann needed a groom, and after a brief interview I was hired.
I spent six months on the road with the circus, during which time I made numerous drawings and took photos documenting the workers, performers, and animals. It was a wonderful time, exciting, exhausting, occasionally dangerous, and completely magical. I would recommend a season with the circus to anyone, without hesitation.
When I came home I created the series of paintings in this show. They document the tour The Big Apple Circus Meets the Monkey King, a season in which the company included acrobats from Nanjing, China. This was in 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square protests, and many of the acrobats defected at the end of the season. Part of my duties as a groom was to hold the horses backstage before they went into the ring, which afforded me the opportunity to take photos of performers in intimate moments; Vanessa with cramps, Taso checking his makeup in the mirror. I also hung out in the ring before and after shows, when performers practiced their routines, came up with new ones, and exercised their animals. This gave me a view to circus life from the inside, with observations and insight not possible if I had not worked there as well.
It’s sad for a circus lover to see waning public interest in this type of performance. Perhaps the incredible variety of entertainment available to us has caused the circus star to fade.
It may also be due to changing attitudes toward seeing animals perform. For me, a circus without animals is like a play without a set; a crucial element of the experience is missing. My own experience was that the animals were well-treated and seemed to enjoy their time in the spotlight. This wasn’t true every day for all animals; there were definitely days when the horses seemed grumpy and the elephants looked bored, but then there were days that I felt that way too. Is it an ideal life for all animal performers? Probably not, but with shrinking habitat and limited space in zoos, performing animals have a life that they may not be able to have in the wild. Elephant herds are routinely culled in national parks and animals are euthanized in zoos. Creative trainers have an amazing rapport with their animals, resulting from observing them closely and developing performances that evolve from natural behavior. It’s not an art that should be lost.
I hope that you enjoy these paintings. Vive la cirque!
Circus Paintings
Big Apple Circus series
Baby Ned and the Clowns
watercolor 20" x 30"
Scene of the clowns Fish and Oaf, and the elephant trainer, Ben Williams, with African elephant Baby Ned getting ready for the show.
Big Apple Circus series
Juggler Resting
gouache 41" x 32"
In 1989 the show was called The Big Apple Circus Meets the Monkey King.
The Monkey King is a character from Chinese folklore, and that years the circus was joined by an acrobatic troupe from Nanjing, China. It couldn’t have been easy for them, because during the tour the massacre in Tiananmen Square occurred, and several of the troupe defected
Big Apple Circus series
The Old Unicorn
conte crayon 20” x 24”
This is a portrait of a couple of circus horses, in particular Basha, who was the unicorn in the show. He was a dangerous animal who had a long history of biting people. He liked the girl who normally worked with him, Annie, but one day when she was busy I went into his stall to get him ready for the show. The next thing I knew I was dan
Big Apple Circus series
Double Dutch Queen
gouache on toned paper 27" x 25"
Vanessa Thomas performed a jump rope act in the 1989 tour. The following year she became the first African American ringmaster for the Circus. This image shows her before a performance, suffering with a stomach ache. Performers went on with the show regardless of physical ailments or injuries. Only serious, debilitating c
Big Apple Circus series
Anna May and Baby Ned
pastel 32” x 34”
Baby Ned was not related to Anna May, in fact, they were two separate types of elephant. Anna May was an Asian elephant while Baby Ned was an African elephant. They seemed to appreciate each other’s company though.
Big Apple Circus series
Fish in the Mirror
watercolor 30”x 27”
John Lepiarz is Mr. Fish. This painting shows him in the costume trailer getting ready for the show. I Ioved walking around with my camera taking pictures of backstage scenes. For me, these images hold as much magic as the actual performances in the ring.