CRUX (2019) Oil and Wax on panel 36” x 48”

I created this painting in 2019 after a conversation I had with my friend, Michael. Both of our fathers were struggling with progressive illnesses that affected memory.

Michael’s father had Alzheimer’s. He told me that while recovering from an injury, practicing tai chi had been extremely helpful and he wondered if the same would be true for his father’s condition. Upon trying the practice of tai chi with his father, however, he found that his father was beyond the ability to follow the movements when side by side. He moved in front of his father and they placed their palms together and he guided them both through the movements. He explained that this practice had surged a connection between himself and his father. In my studio, I was in the middle of a collage project using triangles in space. I created this work upon returning from the conversation with Michael. I love the added depth from the triangles and the paths of the hands moving like clouds along the landscape.

EXHIBITIONS:

2023 FANTASMA PRESS, SOLO EXHIBIT PLANTED GALLERY, DUBUQUE, IA

2022 CHRONICLE, SOLO EXHIBIT DUBUQUE MUSEUM OF ART, DUBUQUE, IA