The M-Zone!

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Gallery 6


Barbie in Gold Wrap

America's sweetheart - how we love you! necklace gently swaying 180 degrees out of phase with her statuesque physique's alluring undulation. (sigh!)

an original painting of America's Girl - Barbie!

acrylics and oils on artist panel, dimensions are 11" x 14"

Barbie in Gold Wrap


First Wives Club

in the second year of our marriage my wife Dawn was diagnosed with a progressive, degenerative, genetic disorder. it was rampant in her Father's family. after eight years of marriage, Huntington's Disease finally claimed all of her. that was nine years ago, and this is the first time i've felt comfortable doing a portrait of her. this is how she looked at the beginning of our relationship. when i entered the hospital emergency room where her body lay i did not recognize her - i had been blind to the constant, subtle changes of the disease.

if you've read anything on my homepage you know i feel like the angel of death. so many people around me have died since my birth! my guilt for having destroyed a sweet young woman was unfounded, as the dementia and behavioral problems were due to the HD and not my involvment. my feelings have not changed much, however - only my cognitive recognition of the facts. she was the sweetest, kindest woman i'd ever met, and i had hoped she'd change me for the better... no such luck.

during some recent work (finishing old canvases begun long ago) i found one painting i'd started of Karen's niece, Jennifer. the original reference photos were missing (i found them later), so after looking at the canvas for a while i decided to paint over it and commit Dawn's likeness to the canvas instead.

oils on canvas. stretched canvas dimensions are 16" x 20"

First Wives Club


"Untitled after Basquait"

Basquait is one of my favourite artisits for his child-like, playful images. his life ended early due to a heroin addiction, which he was sure he'd finally beaten. many of his works were untitled, hence this one is called "Untitled after Basquait".

soft artists oil pastels on brown paper stained with rose petals. dimensions are nominal 8.5" x 7"

Basquiat 1


"Untitled after Basquait"

Basquait was a NY artist who started by doing graffiti on the city subway system - a local boy makes good! the dream of every tag-team artist. he became famous after a chance meeting with Andy Warhol. Basquait is one of my favourite artisits for his child-like, playful images. his life ended early due to a heroin addiction, which he was sure he'd finally beaten. many of his works were untitled, hence this one is called "Untitled after Basquait".

various materials on heavy weight 1/16" thick white card. dimensions are 5" x 9.5"

Basquiat 2


"Untitled after Basquiat"

Basquiat is one of my favourite artisits for his child-like, playful images. his life ended early due to a heroin addiction, which he was sure he'd finally beaten. many of his works were untitled, hence this one is called "Untitled after Basquiat".

soft artists oil pastels and markers on brown paper. dimensions are nominal 8" x 8.5"

Basquiat 3


"Untitled after Basquiat"

Basquiat is one of my favourite artisits for his child-like, playful images. his life ended early due to a heroin addiction, which he was sure he'd finally beaten. many of his works were untitled, hence this one is called "Untitled after Basquiat".

soft artists oil pastels on tan cardstock. dimensions are nominal 7.25" x 11.5"

Basquiat 4


Money Art - drawing on an old Slavic Bill print

this is a drawing on the surface of a reprinted Slavic note. the bill was scanned at 1200 DPI and printed on card stock paper (you are looking at a 300 DPI scan of the finished product). the drawing was made with various media on this printing. i got the bill many years ago from a ex-NKVD/KGB officer i met while stationed near the Fulda Gap in Germany. it has been a favorite personal memento for many years.

print of an old Slavic note with drawing added to surface. image dimensions are 6.25" x 4"

Money Art


Money Art - Operation Infinite Oil

this is a drawing on the surface of a reprinted (obsolete) Arabic note. the bill was scanned at 1200 DPI and printed on card stock paper (you are looking at a 300 DPI scan of the finished product). the drawing was made with various media on this printing. what country does this represent? apparently the White House policy is: "Who cares? If they are Arabs they have oil, and we need to keep it free from tyranny..." yeah, RIGHT!

print of an old (obsolete) note with drawing added to surface. image dimensions are 5.5" x 3"

Money Art


Money Art - Where in the World...

this is a drawing on the surface of a reprinted (obsolete) North Korean note. the bill was then printed on card stock paper (you are looking at a low-quality scan of the finished product) and the drawings were made with archival ink.

can you find all the F-117, B-59 and B-2 bombers? Where in the World are they all hidden? all over nuclear power plant of this "Axis of Evil" member country - that's where!

print of an old (obsolete) note with drawing added to surface. image dimensions are 8.25" x 4"

Money Art


Money Art - Saddam Smoking Cruise Missle

Saddam smoking a U.S. Tomahawk Cruise Missile, and blowing a suspicious-looking smoke ring... "INCOMING!"

this is a drawing on the surface of a reprinted (obsolete) Iraqi 100 Dinar note. the bill was scanned at 1200 DPI and printed on card stock paper (you are looking at a 300 DPI scan of the finished product). the drawing was made with various media on this printing.

print of an old (obsolete) note with drawing added to surface. image dimensions are 7.5" x 3.25"

Money Art


no-Monet, Sunflowers

i've no idea what got into me today: this painting is very unlike me. impressionism *of* an impressionist? credo quia absurdum est! Thanksgiving was spent with friends and i couldn't get their print of Monet's Sunflowers out of my head. this rendition is far more visually interesting in my humble, unbiased opinion.

oils and acrylics on stretched canvas. dimensions are 20" x 28"

Monet rip-off


Chinese something-or-other

this is a painting i started many (many!) years ago. Karen and her sister Kris had gone to the Farmer's Market in Madison and picked up this arrangement of flowers. she said the yellow flower was some kind of Chinese... something-or-other. damn my feeble brain! anyway, after facing the wall waiting for renewed inspiration, it is now finished.

a date-stamp of 8/16/1998 on my reference photos, and completed in January 2003. my longest procrastination ever! the dark areas (a mixture of colors) were applied with a palette knife to add dramatic lighting interest - the light spots seen in the painting's dark areas do not appear on the painting itself, and even change depending on the angle of viewing and lighting. the yellow petals use the same lighting tricks to add depth as well as invite the viewer to look longer.

oils on stretched canvas. dimensions are 18" x 24"

Chinese something-or-other


Clown Crucifix

with hand painted "stations of the cross" details

why is this luscher guy so angry with God?
is he upset with the whole family - mother, father and son?
is he haunted by the Holy Ghost?
has he turned in his collar? burned his bible?
is baby Jesus spinning in his grave?

maybe God put him up to this!?

angry nut or disillusioned artist? you decide!

Clown crucifix with "stations of the cross" details, which have been carefully hand-painted by me. crucifix is 8.5" tall and can be hung, or otherwise displayed, to scare the devil out of you and your family!

Clown Crucifix
click for larger image


the Coffee Muse

the coffee muse. how i rely upon you! waking me up in the morning, stopping the pounding headaches, for which you are also responsible, and helping me to get a good night's sleep...

soft artists oil pastels on handmade paper (from recycled brown paper with rose petals). dimensions are nominal 7.5" x 8.25"

the Coffee Muse


copy of Pogo

initially my intention was to duplicate the art of various serial killers and to forge copies of crime evidence (Zodiac and Ripper letters to the police, etc.), as an intersection of my interests in art and murderers. after researching the subject, however, i discovered the simple fact that the majority of art created by killers is boring and uninspired.

so why did i still do the Pogo self-portrait? this work has a combination of challenging reproduction limitations coupled with the obviously creepy quality of the persona of Pogo: this one simply makes my skin crawl.

during my investigation i was surprised to learn that there is a small cadre of dedicated collectors of such original art. while considering the possibility of ownership i decided that having an original (which a contemporary, notorious criminal had even touched) was, for me, undesirable. the idea that others were willing to own such things was merely an indication of our collective fascination with the underbelly of humanity. "does this kind of killer exist in us all?" and "what seperates us from them?" are terrifying questions to seriously consider. now you can own a copy of one such example and perhaps glimpse into the mind of what we routinely label "criminal insanity".

earlier i stated that copying the painting would be technically challenging. the reason is that Gacy had little artistic talent or inspiration. in terms of color, many of the components are a simple flat color. this is nearly impossible for me to replicate, yet i have done my level best to make it only marginally more interesting. note that this was done in details only and care was taken to not overtly change the painting's elements beyond their collective recognition. for example, notice the top balloon - the brush strokes have been replicated and the overpainting of a darker color over a lighter color has been reproduced whereas the other baloons remain composed of solid colors. the trees are also of interest in that someone must have described to Gacy the technique used by, or he saw a television episode of, the late Bob Ross. the Ross technique of "making a bush" has been expanded to create the background trees. what makes them unusual is the fact that Gacy put darker colors over lighter rather than the other way around (highlights over darks) and the question of whether the baloons or the background trees are foremost.

acrylic on stretched canvas, 16" x 20"

copy of Pogo


mini-Monet WaterLilies (Morning)

after the Monet Sunflower painting i decided to work up a few small Monet-based water lilies.

water color, Conte pencils, soft artists oil pastels on heavy watercolor paper. dimensions are 4.25" x 2.75"

Monet rip-off


High-Tech Robot Crucifix

he died for our convenience: the technological version of Jesus.

technology supplants theology. science wants to replace ignorance and intolerance with... it's own, scientific, equivalents. both want to dispel the void of "the unknown" which surrounds us all. both want to control our hearts and minds. both want our funding and support. science wants our mice, the church wants our children. neither will make your life better.

i'm still not sure which is worse. maybe you, like me, expect evil, avarice and self-indulgent bottom-dwellers. maybe you, like me, also prefer the honest and straight-forward examples from that camp and and not the two-faced variety.

hi-tech crucifix. dimensions are 4.25" x 5.25"

High-Tech Robot Crucifix
click HERE for detail picture 1
click HERE for detail picture 2


Splashdown

this was originally conceived many years ago wile sitting at my desk. as i worked on some code i caught a glimpse of my Nasa-esque spacewalk desktop picture. flashing back to 50's monster movies (where a civilian, or some other animal, is subjected to a massive dose of radiation and suffers growing, shrinking or some other medical anomaly for which there is no remedy) i instantly saw this painting. the astronaut in my imagination was returning to a world significantly smaller than he remembered it - had he shrunken of had it enlarged? in an Einsteinian sense it makes little difference as he is too large to return to his ticker-tape hero parade and mandatory interview with TV's Walter Cronkite.

my original conceptualization of this (a digital picture) can be found elsewhere on my website...

acrylic on stretched canvas, dimensions are 27.75" x 42"

Splashdown

a little big for fridge art:
Splashdown


Shore Leave - the Crop Circle Phenomenon Explained

finally - i've discovered the truth about Crop Circles! Aliens HAVE been responsible for them... Aliens on Shore Leave!

first everybody forms a circle...

Put your left foot in
put your left foot out
put your left foot in
and you shake it all about
you do the Cropie Shimmy
and you turn yourself around
that's what it's all about.

Now put your right foot in
put your right foot out
put your right foot in
and you shake it all about
you do the Cropie Shimmy
and you turn yourself around
that's what it's all about.

oil on artist's panel. dimensions are 12" x 16"

the Crop Circle Phenomenon Explained


Graffiti Train

LUSCHER.ORG and "Mc OIL" are the main themes on this train. my Baby's from Fargo/Morehead and i love watching the thousands of trains slowly blow through town whenever we visit - makes me feel right at home. this toy engine turned up (NOTE: it's missing one of the running gear) and i thought it might be fun to paint it up. perfect for display on an office desk!

toy train with graffiti. overall length just over 4"

Graf Train - Aerial View Grafitti Train - Ground View Graffitti Train - Left w/o Railing Graffiti Train - Left w/ Railing Graf Train - Right w/o Railing Graffiti Train - Right w/ Railing


Sacred Heart T-Shirt and Halo Painting

this T-shirt concept emerged while working on my Jesus-is-every-man series of paintings and drawings. these are all unique designs and once they're gone they're gone - get one today or risk eternal damnation and self-condemnation!

these shirts have all been bleached, as well as washed and dried many times to ensure longevity.

Haloween is only a year away - get your costume taken care of now and relax while everyone else is scrambling around for something original!

no express or implied warranty, not intended for any particular use, unfit for human consumption, usage may result in extended purgatory, batteries are neither needed nor included, artist not liable for any damages that may result.

16" x 20" painting, acrylic on stretched canvas, and 100% cotton T-Shirt ~LG (mfg. and exact size unknown) with Sacred Heart motif painted on the front.

NOTE: this was the prototype T-Shirt - the armpits were opened for increased ventilation but can be sewn closed again (my motor runs hot). only worn once, shirt was used from Goodwill.

Sacred Heart T-Shirt and Halo Painting




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