I find as I paint these days, my work reflects two choices: the choice of despair and the choice to rejoice. Some are very dark, some are filled with light. All come from my unconscious. Every day when I read the morning paper, I feel that the world has become so obscene that children under fifty should be prevented from reading the news. You know, parental supervision is advised. With our world petering on the edge of environmental chaos, with plagues and war haunting our waking hours, I find that painting is my way of entering another world, the world of beauty, even if the world is harsh. Some see the glass half empty, some see the glass half full. I see the glass half empty, and half full.

The gas mask portraits emerged just after Russia invaded Ukraine and were the beginning of a month-long series reflecting on my...

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