The Banana taped to a wall made some headlines a while ago. It actually sold for 6.8 million at an auction.
I didn’t start the painting with the banana in my head, I just wanted to paint a young man who is a bit confused, wondering why a painter would want to make his portrait. He had a band-aid on his arm, that’s when it connected with the duct tape holding the banana on the museum wall.
One more thing: young men who hustle are the subject of my interest. Maybe it started in the 70s, after watching Midnight Cowboy, after reading about the life on NY 42nd street, people selling their bodies for an hour or less. I met and talked to a number of sex workers, male and female. I even attended the Sex Workers Opera, a stage production by and with sex workers. They wanted to tell people that some of them do it because they love the work. I was glad to hear that but my emotions migrate towards the young ones who do it out of necessity. One way or another, I think many of us sell our bodies, but that’s another story.
I added the banana on his chest, to ponder about the price one pays for art and the consideration one gives to human life, another form of art in my view.
Oil painting on linen, upstretched. 29×42cm.
About the format: In the Japanese traditional culture, which I love and which inspires me, a Kakemono is the scroll of (vertical) paper hanging in a Tokonoma, the place in the house dedicated to displaying a flower arrangement (Ikebana) and a painting. The painting is often the calligraphy of a word, a short poem or an image.
I make a lot of my painting in this format so they can me directly attached to the wall or framed according to one’s choice.
The Banana taped to a wall made some headlines a while ago. It actually sold for 6.8 million at an auction.
I didn’t start the painting with the banana in my head, I just wanted to paint a young man who is a bit confused, wondering why a painter would want to make his portrait. He had a band-aid on his arm, that’s when it connected with the duct tape holding the banana on the museum wall.
One more thing: young men who hustle are the subject of my interest. Maybe it started in the 70s, after watching Midnight Cowboy, after reading about the life on NY 42nd street, people selling their bodies for an hour or less. I met and talked to a number of sex workers, male and female. I even attended the Sex Workers Opera, a stage production by and with sex workers. They wanted to tell people that some of them do it because they love the work. I was glad to hear that but my emotions migrate towards the young ones who do it out of necessity. One way or another, I think many of us sell our bodies, but that’s another story.
I added the banana on his chest, to ponder about the price one pays for art and the consideration one gives to human life, another form of art in my view.
Oil painting on linen, upstretched. 29×42cm.
About the format: In the Japanese traditional culture, which I love and which inspires me, a Kakemono is the scroll of (vertical) paper hanging in a Tokonoma, the place in the house dedicated to displaying a flower arrangement (Ikebana) and a painting. The painting is often the calligraphy of a word, a short poem or an image.
I make a lot of my painting in this format so they can me directly attached to the wall or framed according to one’s choice.
