A continuation of obsolete books and vintage paper: The Boxer, 8" x 6".

And another:

Obsolete Books and Vintage Paper

When an appeals court issues an opinion (ruling), sometimes the case is "published", meaning it may be cited as a rule of law. Over the decades, thousands of published opinions have filled volumes of books. Naturally, finding the right case to cite to takes research. Traditionally, this research was done in large libraries teeming with law books.

Only recently, however, online research has displaced traditional book research. Online research has proven to be more efficient, not only in time, but in eliminating the large amount of physical space necessary to hold the books and bookshelves.

The books themselves have become obsolete.

So what happens to the books? They become garbage. Or art!

My new series of work incorporates the vintage paper from these old books, still holding good law. For example, The School Girl, seen above, is a piece incorporating a California Court of Appeal decision from 1940. This was back when Earl Warren was the Attorney General of California, before he became one of the most renown and admired Supreme Court Justices in the history of the United States.

Here are some others:


People v. Guerrero, 8" x 6", oil and vintage paper on wood, 2011



Ex Parte Basuino, 8" x 6", oil and vintage paper on wood, 2011



Gump's Estate, 8" x 6", oil and vintage paper on wood, 2011

Little Paintings

Here is a group of little paintings with big subjects. These are works I sometimes do intermittently in between working on larger pieces. Although each painting has a recognizable animal form, what sparks my interest is not the type of animal itself, but rather, the challenge of finding new approaches of mixing and applying paint -- texture and juxtaposition of color which gives a painting life. In this way, painting representational subjects like animals is the same as painting something completely abstract.

Each painting measures 6" x 8" or 2.5" x 3", oil on panel.

Click on the image to zoom.

School of Communications

Art is a form of communication that should not be bound by the limitations of language. For me, painting is a transcendence of the self, a religious practice of communicating with a force beyond the world as we know it in daily life.

The idea of creating art is somewhat strange -- it does not appear to fulfill any physiological need, yet it is something that has been done since ancient times, probably since the beginning of human existence, and it will continue forever. Great art resonates with the human species as certain works survive over the decades and centuries. These works, such as the Sistine Chapel, Guernica, or the Egyptian Sphinxes, connect with masses of people in an inexplicable way, as if they were gifts from a higher power to give us hope for greater things.

The practice of art is a lifelong study, committing inwardly to reach beyond the self, to act as a portal and one day, hopefully, contribute to the creation of something good.

The Wetland in Winter

Wetland in Winter, 48" x 30", hanging scroll, fabric, oil on canvas, 2011.

Influenced by ancient Chinese and Japanese painting, this work eliminates wooden stretcher bars and incorporates the decorative scroll presentation. But I have adhered to oil on canvas, rather than the ink on rice paper of traditional scrolls. And as the ancient eastern paintings often depicted objective and subjective representations of a nature scene, this work is a continuation of my abstract portrayals of an idea or feeling, moving beyond recognizable images and familiar forms that may be explained by language. It is giving form to something incomprehensible.

A fun exhibition...

Yesterday was the opening reception at the 51st Annual International Art Competition at the San Diego Art Institute. Thank you all for coming out and showing your support!

Painting Is Alive

Untitled, 30" x 55", oil on canvas, 2011.

For over 50 years some critics have said that painting is dead. But painting is probably the most difficult of all forms of art -- it is a person's soul depicted in a single frame. The entire body of work can be dismissed with a single glance. As more and more people desire to be artists, more and more mediocre paintings dilute the field. Some of these people realize they are not painters, so they dabble in new media, such as video art, a nascent medium yet to develop a list of masters. Painting, on the other hand, has its list, quite an extensive one from over the centuries, thus establishing the highest level of artistic standards. Pablo Picasso, on his deathbed in 1973, said, "Painting remains to be invented." Painting is not dead. It just takes someone like Picasso to show people that painting is still alive!