Hush my Kush, c. 2019, 66 x 66 inches, mixed media The artwork, Hush my Kush, referring to the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment asks the question – why is the potential loss of drinking water for one billion people in Asia, not considered newsworthy by the American press? The science of this climate emergency is being silenced. Why?
"Checkmate, Foxy Moxy" Checkmate: Foxy Moxy is composed of a checkerboard. In chess, the action of checkmate, means that the game is over. Dr.James Hansen’s editorial Game Over for the Climate, reveals that we are at a point of no return in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. When 175 nations signed the Paris Climate Treaty in NYC last April, the news was reported in most newspapers appropriately close to the front page. Why then, did Murdoch place this news on page 33 in his New York Post, accompanied by three swimsuit models? The decision not to give the signing of the treaty proper placement in the paper is neither neutral nor benign. This newspaper has the fifth largest circulation in the United States.
"King George’s Revenge " Simon Edelman, Dept. of Energy photographer, was fired for releasing a photo of Energy Secretary Rick Perry hugging coal CEO Bob Murray. Murray’s wish list to save the coal industry became administration policy. Simon’s photo equipment was confiscated.
What the…Gap? 56 x 56 inches, digital media on Dura-Lar, 2021. The UN Environment Emissions Gap Report, 2019, compares world greenhouse gas emissions now and where they need to be to prevent catastrophic global warming. This artwork documents that 12 national and international news companies printed the report. The Fox News Network failed to report this news. Does anyone still think that Fox News is a news entity?
"Check, Checkmate " Conceived as a metaphor from the game of chess, the artwork, Check, Checkmate, takes the global warming debate beyond partisan politics. It examines the role American media plays in the lack of public response to our urgent climate crises. Both on air and in print, certain media outlets participate in ongoing omissions and misinformation concerning scientific research into climactic change. The release of the IPCC report, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, should settle the debate once and for all. It is neither Democratic, Independent or Republican. It is international. The report states that the warming of the atmosphere and the oceans is unequivocal and that it is the result of human activity.
"It’s the Agenda, Stupid" Propaganda is defined by Dictionary.com as information, ideas or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nations, etc. What is inverse propaganda? The deliberate withholding of information so that persons, groups and institutions are unable to form opinions in order to act on real and urgent issues. Just as malevolent as propaganda, the suppression of information can cause great harm.
"ababacacadada" Questions the absurdity of our foreign policy priorities, protecting sources of energy, whose emissions are destroying Earth's fragile ecosystems.
"Danse Macabre" Questions the absurdity of our foreign policy priorities, protecting sources of energy, whose emissions are destroying Earth's fragile ecosystems.
"Toss the Dice, Find the Bunny" Will world governments reduce emissions on time to avoid 2 degree celsius warming and catastrophic consequences?
Why was the arrest of America's climate leaders, Bill McKibben and Michael Brune, at the White House, on Feb. 13, 2013 under-reported in the press?
We seek entertainment, oblivious to the tax policies and foreign policy priorities of our elected officials.
Secret courts are now so secret that oversight is not possible.
What is the true cost of cheap plastic products - ecologically, financially , militarily?
Is the will to violence embedded in human nature?
Misinformation on global warming persists, in spite of scientific evidence accumulated since 1958.
This installation deals with the suppression of news; for example, on the ground events in Afghanistan, unlimited detention by our military without trial, climate change.
The NDAA bill gives up the first, fifth and sixth Amendments to our Bill of Rights. Why did it's signing not make the news?
"On the Beach" deals with petroleum dependency.
Our society is inundated with petroleum products. What is the human and environmental cost of this oil dependency?
Drill, Baby...Drill.....at what cost?
Have Jeffersonian principles of democracy been subverted by the Tea Party?
Is there a conflict of interest when generals advise the public on war strategy on TV, while privately consulting for or investing in the military-industrial complex?
s news reporting compromised by the dual ownership of media companies and military manufacturing companies?
Extreme poverty in the Western hemisphere condemns children in Haiti to snack on dried mud.
Memorial to Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow. Murdered at age 13, in Somalia. Victim of rape. Stoned to death in a stadium.
How will childhood change as relationships become virtual, rather than real-time.
Can we claim ignorance of the after-effects of weapons such as Depleted Uranium and Agent Orange? Birth defects and disease haunt both our soldiers and enemy populations.
focuses on the American addiction to TV and film; a lifestyle of escapism.
is based onTom Wesselman's "Still Life No. 28". Whereas Wesselman's work deals with commercialism and sexuality, this painting deals with the abuse of power. The awarding of a no-bid contract to the Vice-President's former company, Halliburton, shows a collusion of corporate and political power, that has never been more transparent."
engages the viewer in the dangers of the media-military-industrial complex. This painting questions the present-day diminishment of network news.
is a conceptual, political painting that ironicallysynthesizes various styles of the Post-War era, namely, Abstract-Expressionism, Color Field painting and Pop Art. The export of "culture" and the import of oil has characterized our contemporary experience and way of life. Our stake in the oil fields of the Middle East surely was a contributing factor underlying the attack of 9/11. Black stands for the color of oil and gold, the pursuit of wealth.
refers to our concepts of beauty which are determined by the culture in which we live. This painting seeks to reveal that schism of difference which underlies cultural antagonisms.
comments on the media obsession with sexuality at the expense of the coverage of actual news.
deals with violence against women.The myths of Disney did not prepare a generation of women to deal with the possibility of male violence.
Gerhard Richter's "Portrait of a Young Woman" glamorized a member of the Baader-Meinhof gang. Conversely, two American heroines, Christine Axsmith and Bunnatine Greenhouse were vilified and fired from their jobs. Bunnatine blew the whistle on no-bid contracts. Christine referred to torture on a personal blog.
based on Hopper's, "Railroad Sunset", of 1929, comments on the dissolution of constitutional safeguards to our liberty, enshrined in the Bill of Rights-namely, our right to due process, trial by jury and unlawful search and seizure.
deals with the evisceration of language, which degrades into platitudes and propaganda.
When did it become acceptable to ignore the Geneva Conventions?
refers to the debacle of Katrina.
refers to the dangers of nuclear proliferation in aPost-Cold War environment
is an anti-war painting. The Gulf Warwas brought into the living rooms of the American public via television. We watched fascinated as smart bombs fell on the cities of Iraq with pinpoint accuracy. This technological fascination superseded any awareness of the pain and death caused by these bombs
deals with the ideology of romance in this country. Based on Rosenquist’s "The Light That Won’t Fail 1", it refers to Lacan’s theory of lack at the base of our endless quest for love.
is a painting that seeks to reveal the ambiguity of our involvement in the Gulf War. Although the public campaign to enter the war focused on the liberty of the Kuwaiti people, an economic self-interest was clearly also at stake. The lack of public clarity on this issue, lent itself to a kind of doublespeak (where one thing was said, while another was widely held to be true).
is based on Georgia O'Keeffe's"Radiator Building - Night, New York" of 1927. This painting deals with inexpressable grief and loss. O'Keeffe's image of triumphant industrialized cityscape is transposed into an image of absence and vulnerability.
"Safe at Last" based on a child hood memory, this painting is an ironic comment on the end of the Cold War.
is influenced by a painting by Andy Warhol. His work, "Before and After", refers to our perception of physical beauty, along racial lines, as influenced by advertisements. However, racial characteristics during the Holocaust could seal your doom. "Babi Yar/Bosnia" ses on that reality. The Aryan concept of racial perfection is not dead. Neo-Nazi movements are currently on the rise, both in Europe and in the United States. Mass executions took place in Bosnia, much as they did in Babi Yar.
comments on the obsession of the American media with sexuality at the expense of the coverage of actual news. More Americans were aware of the fate of Mr. Bobbit, than were aware of the re-emergence of Concentration camps in Bosnia in 1992 or the bombardment of Sarajevo.
is based on the "Triptych of the Haywain" by Hieronymous Bosch. It depicts the recent exodus of refugees from Kosovo. The Bosch painting is thought to be based on the Flemish proverb, "The world is a haywagon, from which each takes what he can." This composition as used as a point of reference to frame the continuum of greed and megalomania from Bosch's time to the present.
is composed of pulverized soil painted on a wood panel.It is ameditation on the word land and its multiple meanings.It is a reflection on the carnage and grief brought by theconflict over the land.