RVA Magazine Interview View article on original site For people not familiar with your project, why create "State Of Grace?" As a portrait painter, I am interested in the face and our primal response to it. I am also interested in what and who we deem to be beautiful? Some 30 years ago, I was confronted with a severely facially burned young girl walking with her mom in a food market. The experience was awkward and I never forgot it. After witnessing the 911 attacks from across the hudson river, and loosing a friend that day in the trade centers, I realized how fragile we are and how time is short. I wanted to use my skills to contribute something powerful and urgent to our present day culture.. Something that would have the viewer ask questions about their own fragility and what connects us all. The memory of that young burn survivor came to mind and I promised myself I would complete a series of paintings on the subject regardless of the outcome. My intent was to see if I could display the "beauty" within these remarkable young people who are for the most part hidden from society. What were your subjects before this series? I was making realist paintings of Nuns and Priests in subtle out of context scenarios, as to raise the viewers pre conceived notions about uniform and our exterior. An example is "Sister Cindy"( oil on canvas 36x48) see bottom right which depicts a young nun alone at night sitting at a table thumbing through an issue of Elle magazine with Cindy Crawford on the cover. As she looks into the world of sex and allure,the viewer is aware that they are both young women in black dresses. Both project two different pre conceived assumptions yet both share more in common than meets the eye. When interviewing the subjects for "State Of Grace" did you get any sense of resentment from their plight? This was an amazing thing that I learned as I went to their homes and interviewed them. I never sensed anger or resentment in them. Alvaro was a great example of this . He was burned in the tragic Seton Hall dorm fire year 2000 in NJ. Although it was an arson fire,I never heard him speak of or felt anger or revenge from him. That is not to say that he does not want the arsons brought to justice. Its that he is not filled with anger or malice towards anyone.. He is a calm, gentle ,soft spoken person who seems to know something others do not. This is true of most all the people I interviewed . Thats why I called the series" State of Grace". I sensed they received something special in exchange for their suffering and loss. Something many people struggle to find and may never attain. The subject matter can be considered exploitive. Have you had any serious confrontations since the show went up? I have not had any direct assertions of exploitation. However,this is a favorite question of mine and a question I often ask myself. Is a war journalist exploiting carnage on the battlefield as he makes a living and reputation for himself ? Is a film maker making a film about the holocaust exploiting the victims plight? Photos of the homeless? and so on. Or are these people bringing us vital information so we can grow and make informed decisions about our society? I believe we are all fairly cynical about it all. The concert for Bangladesh or Geraldo Rivera exposing Willowbrook so many years ago indirectly brought attention to their careers. But what have we gained from their risk taking and isn't the world better for it? There is always a dilemma and the duality in regards to this. The subjects in my paintings are all volunteers. They signed on and wanted to be a part of my project. . They trusted me and my intentions. It was a honor for me to know that. At the end of the day, I had to ask myself where my heart was and have I offered anything positive and truthful? I believe I did. The rest is out of my control. Will you continue working within this context? Where do you go from here? Thats a good question. I would like to have this project evolve. I am trying to get the project out there with the desire to see it travel the world. I am looking for philanthropic help in order to do this. Burns are universal. They transcend race ,color ,age,gender and financial status. We can all relate . To me these paintings are about more than the obvious. Something more universal. There is a disarming beauty in them. Ultimately the viewer decides what it means to them. I had a women tell me that she sees the paintings as "all of us with our scars on the inside turned outward". I had not thought of that. Thank you for your time, Doug. Very touching and hard to swallow imagery. |
