MANIFESTATIONS OF DEATH, a thematically united series of 27 oil paintings, is grounded on a simple visual dilemma: how does one physically portray nothingness? The incomprehensible can only be grasped obliquely, so I have constructed a crescendo of metaphors leading up to the bleakest embodiment of this disembodied concept. The continuity of the theme is echoed in the repeated use of certain objects: masks, stars, bones, cut flowers and dead trees. Taken together, MANIFESTATIONS OF DEATH creates a metastasizing dialectic that is both varied and focused, a powerful exploration of the one inescapable event in life: its end. The complete set of variations, and four other visual variations, are available on my website.

My oil paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in 20 states, including one-person exhibitions in four major universities. Reproductions of my work has also appeared in journals and textbooks. My art criticism has been published with Oxford University Press, NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, ANTIOCH REVIEW, SOUTHERN REVIEW, BOULEVARD and BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS.

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