Touching the Surface

Stephen, 2011, oil on birch panel. 48 x 64 inches

In 1980 while looking at Stephen Kaltenbach’s “Portrait of my Father”at the Newport HarborArt Museum, I had a Stendhal Syndrome moment. It was the summer following my BFA graduation from CSULB. Art of all kinds had defeated me in the late 70’s and I had low expectations as I left college. When rounding a corner into a back narrow room, I saw his painting hung at one end. I was dumb struck by the sheer size of the work. His ability to have the painting change form as you walked closer to it was unbelievable to even conceive. Yet there it was. He had overlayed an arabesque pattern that came forward as you got closer and disappeared as you retreated leaving the portrait. The pattern was an Islamic design used as a sacred form of thought and expression representing the infinite nature of the universe. I was mystified and in one instant was on a circuitous path to create my own paintings. As synchronicity would have it, I met Kaltenbach in 2009 and photographed him for this work. I similarly used a repetitive geometric pattern over the image of his portrait.

Curt, 2011, oil on birch panel. 48 x 64 inches

Beth, 2011, oil on birch panel. 48 x 64 inches

Todd, 2011, oil on birch panel. 48 x 64 inches