Confinement Gardens Studio Interview

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The paintings developed from my experience of the Covid 19 pandemic lockdowns. In the spring of 2020 as the virus was surging in New York, and strict lockdown measures were in place, I sought relief from these restrictions by walking through the city’s public parks and gardens. 

Day after day, witnessing the powerful rebirth of nature and the emerging waves of blooming flowers offered me hope despite the pandemic, the losses and the uncertainty. The theme of the enclosed garden, the “hortus conclusus” goes back to Medieval times. Though I am essentially an abstract painter, impressions of gardens appeared in my usually nonfigurative compositions, and I began combining floral and leaf forms with wholly abstract linear patterns. 

Fully aware of the deteriorating natural environment, and the "unnatural" artifice of the city’s cultivated gardens, they were nonetheless a vision of hope. The paintings are an expression of hope during a dark time, and celebrate nature’s ongoing beauty through lush green fields punctuated with colorful notes of imaginary flowers.

Several viewers have mentioned that these paintings recall Medieval unicorn tapestries and Gustav Klimt’s dazzling paintings, both also created during dark times.

Technique: These works are painted in acrylic onto canvasses that I previously covered in aluminum leaf. Using the handle of my paintbrush, I then scrape horizontal lines across the still wet translucent paint, row upon row, to let the metal beneath shine through. After “plowing” this field of color, I “plant” my flowers.