Step Right Up

Step Right Up   2016   oil on canvas   32" x 32"

The sink painting is a theme I anticipate returning to for the rest of my life. My favorite artists always seem to paint sinks, and I can’t walk past a slop sink without studying it for possible compositions. There is something compelling about the inherent potential energy of a sink - particularly a studio sink, where the residue of so many past paintings lays lost and forgotten among the dense pentimento.

I was gifted with a particularly crusty slop sink in the Manifest studio, and I appreciated it every time I washed my brushes. But it wasn’t until close to the end of last year's residency that I felt ready to paint it. I was lucky – my easel just fit in the bathroom. I had to disassemble it a bit to get it through the door each day... but it was worth it to be able to work from life – there are so many subtleties in the chrome and all that lovely residue. 

I was listening to a lot of Tom Waits at the time. The title was inevitable.