Art & Perception

Gladiators at rest (gladiators au repos) 1928-29, oil on canvas, 157 x 198 cm.

In the late 1920th, Giorgio de Chirico was commissioned to create a series of gladiator paintings for Léonce Rosenberg, an art dealer. One of these pieces ‘gladiators au repos’, designed for Rosenberg’s apartment in Paris, is the last but not least piece of the Guggenheim exhibition ”Chaos and Classicism”. Hang next to a grim painting depicting a military figure on horse, de Chirico’s gladiators at first glance give the impression of pseudo-classical Fascist art. more… »

The only reality portrayed here is the shape of South Manitou island.

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61 x 45, oil on birch panel

Do you see sky or water?
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Seeing the mist rolling in from the lake over the big dune,

coming closer, enveloping,

until finally, only feeling surrounded by grey.

oil on maple, 24 x 18 inches.

This spring, I started sketching landscapes rather than only photographing them. My first motif was the view from a bluff. Painting on site would be cumbersome because it would mean dragging supplies along a 20 min hike. more… »

oil on board, 12 x 12 inches

Here is the companion to Listening I.

Two kinds of meditation – whirling and quiet. more… »

A documentary on the progress of a layer of clay descending a dune

Oil on maple, 24 x 18 inches

For more than a decade, we have been watching a layer of clay slowly descending a slope of the Empire Bluff. Usually, the ‘necklace’ stands out as a vegetation-free band. But on a winter day, it was nicely accentuated by snow.

I have given up walking around this aspect of the bluff out of concern that there suddenly could be a slide of clay. Two decades ago, the north-western most tip of the dunes at Glenhaven caved in after I walked there with my dog. Since then, I have grown to respect the forces of nature here.