These paintings  -and the title - came about as a reaction to painting becoming less about the language of painting and more about describing it, taking it apart and marrying it to a jargon filled discourse in order to argue a hypothetical and often absurd philosophical point.

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  With that in mind, I used to share this anecdote with grad painters at The Ohio State University. 

 

   Let’s say two long lost friends bump into each other on the street. After the usual chit-chat one says, I live around the corner, come over, you can see my new puppy. 

 

   They get to the guy’s place and there on a long table is the puppy, it's parts, in pieces, perfectly arranged, dissected and preserved. True, it was the puppy, all the bits were there but nothing of puppiness remained.

 

   Below are ten samples from the series. Its actually two series but so closely related that I clump them together as one.

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   Click any of the first four images to be directed to be a page with a few close-ups and/or details of Innocents.  After that, click any of the remaining six for a few close-ups of Untitled Metaphor with...