20 Feet or 12 Inches

The title refers to the fact that is experimental piece was designed to be viewed from either a long distance or very close up. At a distance the background figure resolves into an easily viewable images, but it breaks into huge pixels as you get closer -- at which time you find the tiny images (of the same model) which and but dots from a distance.

Voyeur I

In this piece I created a small challenge to the viewer:

You may stand back, remaining uninvolved, and view the piece from a distance and respecting the privacy of what is behind the holes in the brass plate. Or, you may join the fun, with by peeking through the holes provided, or by peeking around the corner of the shield -- all to catch a glimpse of what is hidden behind.

In my view, we are all voyeurs, especially when we view art, and when you cross that threshold you become involved, which is my goal. And it didn't hurt, did it?

Faith House

This image pleased me from the moment I saw it on the hot street of a rural town in Maryland. It is now part of my series featuring voyeurs’ dreams that have come true. The empty dresses echo the gap between the living subjects here (the shopkeeper and his naked daughter), and suggest a narrative that does not promise future happiness. I presented the piece with the image behind steel bars in part because it divided so neatly into separate segments, sustainable alone, and in part because both figures are "in jail."

The Chain

The power of this image for me is how it is subtle and totally unsubtle at the same time...that it is is not a traditional fetish image, yet it triggers thoughts of unusual things.

And so, it is now your turn. What is happening here, and what will happen next?

Island Queens

That there could be two such powerful and disdainful women, and both found on a remote, deserted island well off the coast of Maine seems beyond belief...or hope. And that each should be attended by a slightly daffy sprite with a cockeyed mask makes it all the more improbable. But we deal in dreams...or are they fantasies?

Is there a difference?

Outerbridge Reach

The shamefaced posture touched him
but he was pleased at her humiliation.
He meant no vital harm;
his lust was to capture, not to kill.
Sometimes he had the fantasy
there was some wound he might inflict
that could make her a creature more like himself.
For company's sake.
So as not to be lonely.

Outerbridge Reach -- Robert Stone

I read the above, marked it, and went looking for the image where it belonged. I knew there would be one, for the thought was familiar, in the way that you recognize something even though you know you've never seen it before. Like deja vu, but more personal.

Harlequin

This is an image that I created by hand painting with digital tools a black and white photograph that I originally captured in Maryland in 1991. When I look at this now, after completion, I see the colors of Jan Saudek (everywhere but on the mask), as well as some of his deglamorized view of life.

This is a beautiful, ripe woman, assuming the pose of a playful pinup. But she is streaked with mud, draped in fur, painted somber colors, and hiding behind a mask of sufficient gaudiness to drive home visually how muted in tone all else is here.

This is not a vision of clownish fun. Something has been lost that will not be regained, I think.