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The Don Quixote theme is more than a mere tradition. With a passing glance at Picasso's off-hand treatment, the idea goes back in time past Cervantes' mock epic to Hamlet's Mill: to the Smart-Weak-Jester and Bold-Mighty-Fighter heroes of the distant past. The myths of Cochleae, Hercules, Samson, Mars-Ares, etc. signified cosmological changes of world ages. In this age we tend to perceive the cosmos as no longer mysterious or essential to our lives. Today's heroes are recursive, fighting the dark knight of loneliness, literally unarmed in their journey over the wasteland of time's forgotten meaning. Everyman's quest for wisdom requires the opening of the angle of vision to encompass the self, the courage to go forward, and the wisdom to return.

Subtitle: portrait of the artist as Toulouse Lautrec. I used to sketch a dance troup during rehearsals. A moment of a traditional Spanish dance has been captured: the incredibly straight back, the stomping on a wooden floor (the amazing power in the shoes). Authentic Spanish dance has very limited motion, and takes great strength to perform. The rhythm of the dance is dominated by the sound of the steps and thecastanet. The upright dancer slowly turns as the feet fly with snare-drum rapidity. The skirt is flung from side to side alluringly. The immobile artist is transfixed by the spell of the performance. The dancer dominates; the artist sees (albeit with skewed perspective) his vulnerability.

The artist as ancient Egyptian has created a pyramid-tree in a staralignment. His heroism is potential; he is incompletely formed, his psyche non-self-actuated. By force of will he would transfer the energy of the star (bird? butterfly?) into his creation, but he will fail, as do all mystics, to control or even represent God. All colors exist in white light, and he has absorbed but a few. He has a concept, but he needs to see the writingon the wall before he can complete his quest (eg. grab the golden fleece), return, and tell what he has seen. The picture is incomplete; he is at the very beginning of his journey.

The tradition of interpreting the female nude in art lives on. In my representation, it is not physical reality that is being depicted. Rather, nakedness is used to indicate the figure's confidence in her total physical reality. Not depicting the breasts does not indicate incompleteness, but rather, points to the pureness of the figure's being, to the absence of prurience. The largest anatomical feature combines the outward appearance of hair integrated with a cortex of inward complexity. The figure is looking up, has seen the light, has captured the spectrum, and has converted the traditional colors of the rainbow to her own, personal palette. Her large feet, as in a dream, indicate her ability to ambulate. She is going somewhere by herself, for herself.

Where does one find personal meaning? There is no responsible institution or system of belief that can perform this task, this quest, for the sentient individual. The negative media parade of conspirators, murderers, felons, etc., have contributed to the mass perception that most leading figures are criminals. As a result, increasing numbers of the public are losing their faith in mankind, and see no reason to strive toward abstract goals. But there is no need for desperate cult solutions. Recognizing an individual's responsibility to the universe, as well as the alienation of the self, provides one with the opportunity to joyfully harvest the calm of understanding. Then, as shown, the gray figure will be empowered to act, and the quest can progress from acquiring to giving.

The Aten is the ancient Egyptian representation of the solar disk, an example of the kind of esoteric knowledge that, when passed on, ensures the survival of civilization: the light of the past. The architectural atmosphere here is partially an homage to the work of Giorgio de Chirico. The tree, the essential part of nature that is depicted, needs no such educational nurturing. The Yoruba of West Africa believe that the souls of ancestors inhabit the magnificent trees that flourish there. Western scientists hold that trees are the most crucial photosynthetic producers of oxygen. It is hoped that a necessary and sufficient number of people get the picture.

The creative artist is committed to his love of life and acknowledges the critical importance of his solitary, introspective role in the well-being of the collective intellect. His creation is a non-religious, non-corporeal nativity. On this shell of a landscape he represents all fauna. He grows by employing his medium as his equal, the tree, grows from the earth. Both artist and tree have precarious existences; both are natural parts of the same entity. Surface qualities of the depicted elements are further emphasized by the graphic placing of the title and signature. If plowing the earth were enough to satisfy man, everyone would be a farmer. The artist needs more, and is depicted in black. Black contains all the colors, not the rainbow, an illusion.

Could / should every day be "special"? This is not only a “party on the brink”, it’s my reaction to the reactions to the 9/11 terrorism events. I will not give in to “fear itself”. I will continue to celebrate and cerebrate.

Childhood memories of a huge tree in the woods that I used to visit at night - my “tree of the moon”.

The wall of privacy.

If I go swimming just for fun, then why not? The white line is clear.

The white line is tentative.

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