Hair Piece

This piece explores the transitory nature of memory. These hair portraits reflect my struggle with memory and the method of using hair as a memory devise to try and remember the many students I taught during my first year as a teacher in Chicago. Hair becomes a metaphor for memory because of its ephemeral quality. By omitting the details of faces and just focusing on the hair, these portraits reflect the limitations of memory.

100 - 6 x 9" Inches each
oil on canvas
2003

Portraits

This piece began with a desire to paint a portrait of a friend who was leaving the country and I would not see again for many years. My friend would not let me use his face for the portrait, but instead gave me a beat up jacket that he had worn for years and told me to use that. It turned out that the jacket represented more about him than his face would. I used this idea as a jumping off point to ask other friends, co-workers and acquaintances to pick a shirt, jacket or sweater they felt represented something about themselves to paint a portrait from. Each person had a poignant story to tell and deepened my experience of what a portrait is.