“Malthusian” refers to Thomas Malthus’ (1766-1834) theory of over-population and its dire consequences in relationship to feeding an ever-expanding world population. In 1988, I had a series of vivid dreams where throngs of people replaced cars on roads and endless crowds moved as a human herd.
To deal with the anxiety, I started photographing people during rush hour to use as a reference for my first “Malthusian Paintings”. These canvases are crowded with moving figures, often faceless but somehow connected in their shared kaleidoscopic pattern of light and shadow.
Using old master’s oil glazing techniques and embracing the “moving” aspect of the figures, the canvases capture passages of abstraction embedded within realistically structured compositions.
The illusion of movement is heightened when light reflects off gold and copper leaf layered between transparent veils of paint.
The Malthusian paintings represent my first “environmental” artwork and continue to provide an outlet for concern about over-population, pollution, food supply and how everything is interdependent and relative to the number of people on earth.
To deal with the anxiety, I started photographing people during rush hour to use as a reference for my first “Malthusian Paintings”. These canvases are crowded with moving figures, often faceless but somehow connected in their shared kaleidoscopic pattern of light and shadow.
Using old master’s oil glazing techniques and embracing the “moving” aspect of the figures, the canvases capture passages of abstraction embedded within realistically structured compositions.
The illusion of movement is heightened when light reflects off gold and copper leaf layered between transparent veils of paint.
The Malthusian paintings represent my first “environmental” artwork and continue to provide an outlet for concern about over-population, pollution, food supply and how everything is interdependent and relative to the number of people on earth.