Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Less Is More

When I was seven I put on a show in my grandfather’s living room. I called it The Greatest Show Off Earth! In the first act I played the violin. In the second I sang a song, and in the third I made a speech about saving the world. The title came from The Greatest Show On Earth! which was (and is) the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. I was in love with the circus and that love affair is still going on.

I recently did a painting called Trapeze where the audience was reduced to a primordial state which I suppose a therapist would say represented my childhood. I repeated this treatment of the audience in paintings of baseball, basketball and football games. Yankee Stadium was reproduced in Connecticut Magazine and then I received an offer to have reproductions of my sports paintings in a major motion picture! It was a great way to end this year and it all goes to prove what I have always suspected: Less is more.