REFLECTIONS COLLECTION

I tend to work with themes. The weekly newspaper cartoon ("Eh Brah!") is at the whim or the reader/writer each issue.   If there is a theme to that, I guess you could call it: "Page 7".

When Ambrosia changed hands, the gracious new owner granted me exclusivity rights to turn the charming little watering hole into my own 'ersatz' gallery. (there are no galleries to speak of in Kihei.)

At the time I decided to do a theme I called the "Reflections Collection". A series of images that feature things about dance and music, but as seen in reflective surfaces: chrome, water,  eyeballs,  polished surfaces in general.  It was a unique theme and was very well received.

"Redemption on the Dance Floor" was an inspiration from the title of a single by Mauis' MEGA rock outfit "The Throwdowns".  Fronted by Toronto native Erin Smith, her (endlessly evocative) lyrics put this image in my head and it came out this way.

Being a massive Beatlemaniac, I could not do a series without the inclusion of the Fab One (and sometimes Three others) John Winston Ono Lennon.

"I've Just seen a Face"

But the ghost of Ed Sullivan rose up from my cerebral cortex (or hippocampus for all you neurologists) and enticed me to add Paul McCartneys' face and change the name. I am torn between the pieces, one I like for the singular presentation of John Lennon- the other for the duplex collaboration between he and sir Paul McCartney.

"Imagine"

This one ("Imagine" - above) is cool to me because if you look at Lennon's (solo) "Rock 'n' Roll" album cover (also above, just not quite as much), We see him standing in an open doorway. My image is what I imagined was inside the doorway and what we would see if we were looking outside... Lennon's back and bum bits.

"Eye on The Tango"

The "Eye on The Tango" was a favorite of Candice Seti (Ambrosia C.E.O.) so if you want to see it, you better be nice to her - perhaps she'll let you in her home!

"Jaco"

The conflicting scenery (a sun splashed beach reflected in the body of a bass sitting and smoldering in a lava flow) is the vision I held for this piece I call simply 'Jaco'. It's an homage to whom I believe to be the greatest bassist on the past century - Jaco Pastorius (Weather Report/ Joni Mithchell, Et AL). Conflicting scenery for a conflicted personality. The bottom-playing purists will argue that Jaco didn't play a double bass. But he DID! Before he bought that legendary Fender Precision, he had a double-bass that got ruined, I think by a flood or something. Jaco played a fretted bass for sound checks but played a beat-to-shit fretless Fender Precision during performances (he had ripped the frets out with vice grips and filled the fret slots with marine grade epoxy,  turning a perfectly good electric fretted Fender into ....a thing that made the Gods Themselves sit up and take notice). He used no magic pedals or effects loops, he just made the bass SING. Jaco had his emotional problems, just like the rest of us, but was seeking help and getting positive remedial results. He was on the way to full recovery when he was beaten to death in his late twenties by a bouncer in Florida. The greatest bassist of all time was just getting warmed up. We will never know the width and depth of his talent. We lose. Big time.

"Rain Dancers"

This is a simple study in colors and textures. I call it Rain Dancers because I couldn't come up with anything else! You notice that I signed it on both corners.... should you flip it over, end for end! It works upside down - it actually goes to another region or the viewers mind. Cool eh? (Yes, Virginia, those are stilt dancers)

Since when does upside down matter?

Well. time to get back to the creative side of the ledger.      Enjoy