“Spirit of Man” was painted for a group show at GK Gallery in Cooperstown, ND on the theme of “Man”. The central figure with outstretched wings around two other images, represents “Man”. One of the two side figures, a woman, wears an orange dress, but she is invisible, or perhaps not even there. The other figure consists of a blue “space ghost” like projection wearing an orange suit with a circle in front.

This painting, I thought, represented Man’s eternal embrace of love and soul. The woman portrays man’s endless search for love, and the other side, intellect or “thirst for knowledge”, not necessarily mutually exclusive. Both cause the man’s spirit to soar.

I enjoyed painting the figures, with thick paint, very fast. The wings, were done with a scratchy technique. The figure wears a bandoleer and a medal, representing “war”, I suppose. Maybe a war between silly love and intellect? I don’t know. At the time, I would just start a painting without any idea of what it would turn out like. I do like the eventual outcome!

Because of travel constraints, I used three canvases eventually framed together as one. At the time, I had thought I was going to paint many, many panels and display them all next to each other as one long and grand painting. Maybe in the future?