"Mary McDougal Observes a Closed Rehearsal of the Miss America Pageant, Which She has attended every year since 1948"
46" x 60" x 5" 3-dimensional. Acrylic on wood panel with found objects. This painting/construction is the artist’s personal parody of the annual Miss America Pageant, uniquely American institution. Mary McDougal, the fictionalization of an actual living character, is portrayed in the work as she observes her most recent pageant rehearsal from the spectator seats of an otherwise empty Atlantic City Convention Center. Portrayed ‘midst the gala and splendor of the vent, Mary McDougal quietly contemplates the Miss America she might have been but will never be. The work incorporates found American antiques and collectibles; “Frozen Charlotte” dolls from the 1800’s; metalwork from a print shop; workings from an early American pendulum clock; parts from a piano; and, the finials from a porch railing. The central figure, a stand-in for the soon-to-be-nominated Miss America, is an early American bisque doll. Attired only in a crocheted sweater, long stockings and blue slippers, and flanked by her “runners-up”, she holds an American flag.
Self Portrait 1955
28" x 22" This painting is oil on a wooden panel, and was painted at age 19, while I was a student at Michigan State University. I had a 50 year retrospective at the Widener University Art Gallery PA in 2005 and this work started the retrospective, and another self portrait in India ink created at age 70 in 2005 ended the show.
Self-Portrait 2005
“Crossword Puzzles Save Lives”
30” x 23”. India Ink on paper + Collage. My latest series “messages” has the feel of 3/Dimension, but is worked on paper, with pen and India ink, combining poetry/multiple drawings/ and collage. The poems are combined with the images that the world confronts us with, to create a universal statement.
“American Icon Series # 153/ Pit Stop”
3-Dimensional 52” x 52” x 6”. Nails, hoses, cable, wiring, “found objects” on wood panel. Reminiscent of an intricate racing car engine, a structural symmetry is apparent in this complex, but interesting, interplay of hoses, cables, wires, nails, and assorted objects of cast iron, wiring, steel, plastic and rubber, all of which comprise “Pit Stop”. The linear juxtaposition, as well as spatial positioning of a vast assortment of objects, all of which suggest powerful forces at work, are projected 3-dimensionally.
“American Icon Series #142/Memories”
41” x 41” x 4”. Metal, plastic, aluminum, steel, rubber, iron, tin, glass, clay, and acrylic on wood. A composite of 1000’s of “found objects”, arranged in abstract patterns.
“American Icon Series #139/ Black Lace”
32” x 24” x 1”. Wall relief. Acrylic and various metals on wood. A collage of “silk and taffeta-like” metal; wire and screening – crumpled, twisted, and black lace in appearance.
“American Icon Series #150 – Steel Assemblage”
36” x 36” x 3”. Collage of steel; aluminum; mesh; ornamental and decorative “found objects”.
“American Icon Series #113/Willy’s”
Metal wall relief. 39” x 22” x 9”. Work consists of the burnished grill of a Willy’s Jeep (of World War II vintage) in which red electric rope lights have been installed.
“American Icon Series #53/ American Chair”
39” x 24” x 17”. This sculpture is a saloon-type chair, on which has been applied a figurine, ornamental brass and other metallic fixtures; cartridge casings of various calibers; watch parts; a copper mold of a child’s hand; lead wrappings and leaf-like shapes; escutcheon pins; and finishing nails.
“American Icon Series #151/ Dorothy. You’re Not in Kansas Anymore”
Wall relief on wood panel. 25” x 36” x 1”. An interesting parody on the popular children’s “classic”, “Dorothy and The Wizard of Ox”. A work made striking through the use of all red acrylic. Focus of the work is a “doll like” Dorothy; arms raised; and caught up in a vortex or “cyclone” of whirling wire shapes and patterns – symbolic of the cyclones of her native Kansas. An interesting counter-point to the work is the inclusion of a birdcage, containing all of Dorothy’s “red shoes”, which facilitated her return to her native Kansas, from the World of Oz.
“Elizabeth is Lost”
16” x 81” Oil on 4 attached canvases. I took a series of photographs of a young 12 year old girl named Elizabeth and then used them to create this oil painting. Elizabeth is a trouble young woman and I included this feeling in this painting.
American Icon Series #105. Manayunk Wall
The artist’s statement of a premier bicycle race, run in Philadelphia, each year – bringing the world’s best cyclists together. Greatest challenge of the course is the “Manayunk Wall” a steep, and, seemingly endless, 30 degree ascent through the Manayunk neighborhood. The work represents a near-real interpretation of a bicycle “assemblage” in which wheels; gear assemblies; handle bars; a “French” bicycle seat; copper fasteners and cast-iron rods all interact in a manner suggestive of the “forces” at work in the cyclist’s arduous climb.
"American Retablo"
Acrylic on Wood, 1989, 17" x 15" x 5"
“American Icon Series #131/ Ford”
28” x 33” x 6”. 3-dimensional wall relief, incorporating an early 1900’s Model-T Ford radiator, grill assembly, and thermostat, with electric rope lighting.
“Gateway to Elysium”
36” x 32” x 4”. 3-dimensional. Acrylic on wood. This painting was feature in a color advertisement appearing in the September 19189 issues of “Art in America”. It incorporates antique framery, as well as a Tramp Art Frame, in the center of the work. The painting is expressive of my interpretation of Greek mythology surrounding Elysium.