Happy 4th

Drawing studies for Individuals’ Revolution (1982)

Individuals’ Revolution, IR, 1982, composition 1

IR, 1982, composition 2

IR, 1982, composition 3

IR, dynamic axis lines, 1982, composition 4

IR, woman study, planting the flag.

IR, woman study 2, planting the flag

IR, woman study 3

IR, guy study, planting the flag.

The drawing concept for Individuals’ Revolution was developed 1982 when I was 25 years old and living in Staten Island, NY.

Friends who were working in Wall Street would after work take the Staten Island Ferry, that passes by the Statue of Liberty, and visit my studio to pose for the figures in the painting. Particularly, Jennifer Trainer and Peter Duble stood in for several of the figures.

I did all my studies at the time as nudes, which I would then build clothes on top of the figure in the classic Renaissance way.

I worked two months in the summer playing professional tennis in Holland, which paid for my expenses the rest of the year. So I was blessed to be able to paint 24/7 in my art studio which alternated each year either in Holland or New York.

I envisioned the final painting to be 10×14 feet, like the epic historical paintings that you can see in the Louvre in Paris.

At the time, the project was way beyond my abilities, funding, and I didn’t have any potential patrons or collectors that would buy that kind of painting; and I guessed it would take me 2 or 3 years. I abandoned the project for practical reasons. But in hindsight, I’m impressed that I could entertain working towards an project on that epic scale.

The idea of the painting was that the individuals take back America from the Washington D.C. bureaucrats.

For my research I took a train from Manhattan to Washington DC to visit a Smithsonian library for visual information on early Washington DC. And I remember proudly telling the librarian that I was making a painting that was showing the destruction of Washington DC.

The first two composition studies, 1 and 2, are elaborate but I thought they looked too staged, like they were on an old-fashioned play. My favorite composition is number 3, as it has a more organic arrangement of the people and setting. I particularly love the sketch of the young woman wearing the simple dress.

At this time I was pushing as aggressively as I possibly could, with the aim to rival my favorite artists Rembrandt and Michelangelo. It wasn’t exactly a competition. It was more that I felt an intense love, incredibly deep resonance, for the paintings of Rembrandt and the work of Michelangelo. It wasn’t that I wanted to compete with them, literally, it was that I wanted to feel the same way about my art as I felt about theirs. And I felt I had it in me to do that with enough hard work and perseverance.

This painting was an early test of my potential.

After I abandoned the project, I was to paint Manhattan at Night in 1983, with the viewpoint from the Staten Island Ferry. As I would go into New York and have dinner with friends and come back later at night and study the lights of Manhattan.

A year later, I would paint the painting Pursuit, 1984. And that was my eureka moment of having arrived as an artist. I was making the kind of art that I imagined in my soul. After doing that painting, I made a commitment to be an artist no matter what. No matter how difficult or financially difficult. But I believed I had the goods. And I’ve never looked back since.

Looking back now, attempting a painting on that scale, without funding, support, or certainty, was a blessing. It clarified what I valued in art: thinking big, adding depth, individuality, and meaning. I got to take stock of where I was out, recalibrate my vision and get back on the horse. It also prepared me for the breakthrough that was just around the corner. Sometimes the courage to attempt something beyond our grasp is what allows us to finally reach it.

That kind of courage, the freedom to dream big, to act on your convictions, and to shape your own future, is at the heart of the American spirit. Every July 4th, I celebrate that freedom, not the history or politics, but in the deep belief that each individual has the power to rise, create, and contribute something meaningful. That is what the Fourth of July meant to me then, and still means to me now.

Happy 4th everyone!