Paintings to the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center

Far Horizon - acrylic on canvas - 36 x46"

One of the paintings we placed in good homes last year was this acrylic, probably from the 1980's.  It's one of the few purely abstract works to survive Dad's habit of painting over older canvases, which he did partly to save buying new canvas and partly because the already existing  colors and shapes gave impetus to his new vision.

Several of Dad's paintings have gone to UNM over the years.  Our family is proud to have them permanently displayed in the several buildings that make up the Health Sciences Center.  We feel that Dad would have been happy to have them on public view, enjoyed by so many faculty members, students, staff and patients.   Lots of credit should go to Chris Fenton, the curator of UNM's program, who does a wonderful job of placing the art where it can best be appreciated.

Abstracting the Landscape

In this large landscape, one of my favorites, Dad succeeded in painting a marvelous tapestry of abstract color that also evokes the sand dunes of Cape Cod. Most wonderful is the turquoise high on the left that is obviously painted over/after what lies beneath it, and yet stands for a distant inlet of water. To the viewer, it is seemingly both close and far away, both floating above the picture plain and also obviously a flat stroke of paint.

One of Dad's practices was to turn a painting over, and even on its side, to test the validity of the composition from all directions. It had to "work," as he put it. In my mind's eye, I can see him turning this painting and finding it good.