“I grew up in a suburban paradise. My three older brothers liked to horse around. I was more often the observer. On one sunny day where there was a lot of boisterous noise with sneaky play. One of my brothers came around the corner of the house with a water balloon in hand, thinking he would surprise the other, not knowing another brother was on the roof, ready to drop the bomb!
Theses images are not of my brothers, but seeing that memorable childhood fun inspired these works. While I paint, I often reflect on the nature of life or the news, as I am a bit of a news junkie. After I did an initially small water balloon painting, the idea wanted to be bigger. It made sense to me to paint them because I was thinking about the juvenile aspects of battle and the fear element of attack even in play. I was reflecting on the deviousness of war, the battle of business, but disguising it as play. I was also reminiscing about childhood and play.”
(These paintings were shown at the Simon Patrich Gallery in May of 2001, as part of a solo show called Play. The sneak attack of 9/11 on a sunny day came four months later…the end of innocence.)