A Window onto the Past
One of the things that is obvious to those who know me and my work is that I am a romantic and love to escape into the past. When I was a boy, I was fascinated by knights and castles so I read all about the Middle Ages. My obsession for all things medieval was expressed in meticulous drawings of the details of a knight’s armor, his weapons or the dragons that he fought.
My favorite book when I was a teenager.
Luckily as an adult I live in a city that pays attention to its heritage, so I get to feed off of that rich history. In my paintings I celebrate New Orleans’s story by highlighting the city's Creole architecture which grew out of French and Caribbean building styles.
A great new book about New Orleans links to Caribbean culture and architecture.
William Faulkner said in Requiem for a Nun, "the past is never dead. It's not even past." I feel like in this city the past has a palpable presence that is hard to miss. Just like the sometimes-oppressive humidity (which I actually like), the long history of New Orleans is somehow always in the air.
One of the ways that I express my emotional connection to the past is through window reflection paintings. Painting a view of a window, and showing the slightly distorted reflections that result, is to me a metaphor for the way history always hovers in the background, quietly getting your attention.
Window Visit 18" x 24" $395
"Balcony Quartered" 18" x 24" $395
