This is an old piece called Railbirds. I’ve always liked this little painting for the clarity of color and the composition and rhythm of the figures that are seemingly engaged in a fistfight at the rail of a horse track. It’s also a piece that calls back parts of my youth that are distant and remain only in memory.
The culture of gambling played a major part in my youth. I spent an inordinate amount of time at racetracks and taverns, reading the Daily Racing Form and drinking watery Cokes, as a kid. There are a lot of stories and details I could add that might make this a personal mythology piece but I think in this instance, the less said the better.
However, I will say that this time was a great experience in watching people and how they click and interact with one another. I was exposed to adults, often at their worst .
Drunk. Angry. Greedy.
I can’t say how this translates into my work or how it effected my becoming an artist . Maybe it showed me the darker side of our psyche and took away the romance and influence it might hold for many. Maybe it was important in forming my sense of light and dark. Maybe it’s the basis for the darkness that I try to put behind my paintings.
As I’ve pointed out before, you can’t appreciate the good without knowing the bad -or the light without having been in the dark.
Redtree Times 