1988

Panels on the Floor. Also paintings on canvas, masonite panels and 3-dimensional objects.
Primarily work in the 42nd Street studio, New York.

In the summer of 1988 there was the Matter of Rothko solo show with American Fine Arts at the original East 6th Street location. Colin had changed the name of the gallery but had not yet moved down to the Wooster Street site.
Then in the fall, T W N BR WL Y an exhibition at the Vera List Gallery in The New School, Manhattan, organized by curator Kathy Goncharov, and the solo exhibition The Irascibles at Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle.
All three of these shows were were a layout of masonite panels, either on the floor; on the wall; or a bit of both. The panels were each painted with names, sans vowels, of participants in whatever the overall painting was about. For example, all of the panels in Matter of Rothko were names of those involved in the famous lawsuit with Marlborough Gallery. Almost like the credits at the end of a movie; the listing of the players after the opera is completed.
Probably the most important thing that happened in 1988 was during a visit to the Natural History Museum. I watched the Tibetan Monks creating a Mandala out of tinted sands and and was struck by a profound thought - much like a meatball right between the eyes. All of the paintings on this page and all the pages before, were nothing but massive storage and transportation problems. No one ever bought anything.
I realized watching the Monks that I could do what I wanted, everything, out of sand and then just sweep it away, like they did. I was already working on the floor, exhibiting paintings on the floor. Gravity was my friend. I could even use the same stencils! My first sandpainting, done just a few hours after returning from the Museum, is the background of this page.

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ROTHKO-POLLOCK, 1987-88, copper and aluminum leaf on particle board panels. 3ft. x 5ft. x 10ft.(each). A two part work with each unit intended to face the other across a room.

Critics, 1988, copper leaf on masonite panels, 18in. x 48in. (each panel).

Small Untitled Photographs (4" x 6"). The first ones using the raised ceramic letters.

The Names of the Museums, various dimensions, encaustic on canvased panels with gilded frames.

Bernie Goetz, 1988, encaustic on particle board panels, 18in. x 48in. (each)
Names of Bernhard Goetz, Darryl Cabey, James Ramseur, Troy Canty, Barry Allen.

The Irascibles, 1988, encaustic on Masonite panels. 4ft. x 3ft. x 32ft.
Grouping of the names of the artists in Nina Leen's 1950 photograph of the Abstract Expressionists.
(as installed: Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA.)

Matter of Rothko, 1988, encaustic on Masonite panels. 12ft. x 32ft.
Grouping of 83 names of major characters in the Mark Rothko lawsuit.
(As installed: American Fine Arts, Co., New York)

T W N BR WL Y, 1988, encaustic on Masonite panels, 3ft. x 8ft. x 12ft.
Grouping of names of major players in the Tawana Brawley trial. (As installed in the 42nd Street studio)

Untitled,The first sandpainting, 1988, pigmented perlite on perlite, 4ft x 12 ft. Names of critics. (studio)

Untitled Objects, 1988, encaustic on found objects on masonite panels. (various dimensions).

Self-Portrait, 1988, copper and aluminum leaf on particle board panels. 4ft. x 6ft.

Portraits, 1988, oil and acrylic on canvas, 18in. x 48in. (each)

Untitled, first of the subway paintings, 1988, oil on particle board panel. 18in. x 48in. (each)

TET-TRUMP, 1988, encaustic on carved urethane foam panels. 18in. x 48in. (each)

Clamp, 1988, oil and copper leaf on canvas, two 18in. x 48in. panels w/ bar clamps.

Untitled, 1988, 18in. x 24in., gilding on found frame.

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