This piece fits the Art of Repair I believe because it addresses the more subtle ways we judge and separate ourselves from others without actually speaking up. The sideways look is easily recognized by everyone. For me it represents how many people feel who do not always speak up. I hope by giving space to this fleeting glance we can take a different look at the costs of silent judgement.
As the third painting in this series, “Manipulation” examines the unseen forces that shape how we perceive truth, morality, and one another. While “Protest” explores collective unrest and “Haunted Hopeful” turns inward to the personal journey of identity, “Manipulation” looks at the space in between, where external influence alters internal belief.
In polarized societies, manipulation is rarely obvious. It seeps in quietly through media, institutions, traditions, and even our own emotional needs. It reinforces what we already believe, comforts our biases, and blurs the line between fact and feeling. At times, it masquerades as certainty, making us mistake conviction for clarity.
The central figure in “Manipulation” is blinded, her eyes obscured by an abstract red form symbolizing the power of personal prejudice. This self-imposed blindness makes her more vulnerable to the surrounding web of deception and control. She is both ensnared by external manipulation and complicit through her own internal bias. The layered textures and distorted forms mirror how perception fractures when filtered through fear, ego, and inherited belief.
This painting asks how much of our worldview is authentically ours and how much has been molded by those who benefit from our division. Only by recognizing both the external and internal forces that distort our vision can we begin to reclaim agency over our thoughts and move toward a more truthful, unified understanding of the world around us.
The Machine is 10th in a series of twelve pieces that illustrate what AI is, what is can help, how it can hurt, and what our world could look like if we choose to cooperate or to conflict. The works are created in a collaboration between myself and a self-modified algorithmic robot painter to show the order in chaos, and the emotional connection we can share with the nature of machination.
The Machine is represents what happens if we refuse to cooperate with AI and attempt to dominate it. In this reality, the machine wins destroying humanity and continuing to exist in the universe with whatever consciousness it has.
It’s a recent piece I made that reflects creation – which is never clean, but always perfect. A striped claw grips from chaos; a rose ignites upside-down. Tiger ferocity melts into tidal calm. Masculine lines fracture, feminine curves cradle. Good and evil, right and wrong—none stand alone. Truth lives in the molten middle, braided tight.
This is the painting that started my Transforming Crisis Series. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, my daughter and I joined a group to go there to help. We were there for ten days. It was one of the hardest things I have done because of the level of loss and devastation. We helped people go into what was left of their homes and retrieve the few things that were left. We serve the homeless fresh cooked Thanksgiving dinner on the street. This painting also has the theme of the Phoenix rising because that was my hope at the time. It’s affirming to see that is what happened.
These paintings in this series is my energy prayer for transformation.