Outpost, painting in tribute to the third centennial commemoration of the capital city of Albany, New York, 48in. x 72in., oil on canvas, c. 1986.
This series of drawings and watercolors constituted my first in-depth study of a subject---The Pastures.
In the southeast corner of Albany, NY is a collection of early Dutch-Holland brick buildings referred to as The Pastures---originally of land cleared for cattle during the period of the first European settlers. After a century the area eventually transformed into more than a dozen city blocks . . . only to be gradually ignored by the surrounding municipality. By the time I arrived on the scene, the quality of abandonment, which on the surface appeared mysterious or sometimes threatening I found to be graphic and entrancing---inciting behavior entrusted to artmaking. The visual attraction to such impoverished urban conditions of the Pastures was secured through the many studies produced over two years on location.
