Happy Motoring

Buy Here!

Happy Motoring was a slogan of the Mobil Oil Company for a long time.  My father owned and operated a Mobil gas station for over 30 years.  Motors, tires, gas pumps, fan belts and happy customers were part of my life for the six years I spent earning minimum wage at this downtown Buffalo establishment.  This should explain my recent fascination with putting the automobile into my artwork.  The slogan usually followed the Pegasus sign that you see here.  Mobil retired this version of the Pegasus sign back in the 70's.  (They changed it to face the other way and put it in a round white lighted sign, wow!)  I always hoped to find one for sale at a salvage store.  Now I want to share with you this spot on the web where you can get anything in a vintage look from garage signs, clocks, gas pumps even old aviation brands! Garageart.com  This will supply me with gifts for my brothers for years to come.  They even have a section titled "Man Cave".  The gas pump's days may be numbered (a very high number) but decorating with these nostalgic signs gets right to my motoring heart.  Is there a gear head in your circle?  One of these will really ring his bell cord!

Gothic in New York

This is a favorite piece of mine.  The marble is especially beautiful.  I had recently been to Paris and was quite taken by the juxtaposition of old world and new world architecture.   I went looking for the closest example of old world that we have in New York and settled on St. Patrick's Cathedral.  This is the only view in which there is not a skyscraper in the background.  I have kept this one in my studio for myself, but now I am ready to share it with you.
Hidden on the website.

Wall Street

Does New York have an "old city"?  About the closest we come is the southern tip of Manhattan.  Old maps outlining the location of the "wall" and the canals is all that remains of our early centuries. (Can I use that term when there is only four?)  This six marble piece is the result of a walk in that neighborhood two years ago.  Four of the images are from that area and two are from around 57th street.  Can you identify the sources?  Titled Wall Street it is now in a private collection, a print is available on the website. Print

The Photograph as Object.

Portraits - Evening, 1903

Artists must represent their work in books and websites through pictures.  These pictures are just a representation. (Ceci n'est pas une pipe) This is particularly difficult when the work is a photograph to begin with.  The self-portrait, with wife, by Edward Steichen is one of my favorite photographs. It is being featured in the current Met exhibit Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand.  The photographs made by Steichen that are displayed there need to be seen in person.  They suffer greatly as images in catalogs or even expensive coffee table books.  This particular photograph starts as a platinum print, and then has a second emulsion of gum-bichromate placed on top.  Many of his early works were made in this manner.  These are special objects as well as images.  The show is up until April 10th.  If you're in New York, make the effort to see it.  These are the clearest examples of why photographs are more than half-tone images (printed pages).  I also like In Memoriam from 1901. I found it hard to believe how much more there was to the tonality of this print, whose image I had always admired in books.
Decanter is an original photograph on marble.  The emulsion is hand applied in the darkroom.  It suffers in this representation also.  I have reproduced this work as a giclee print, too.  The print is very beautiful, but it is a different work than the 12" square marble.   More people are decorating with, and collecting, photographs.  This exhibition, or any exhibition, where the original works are displayed is worth your time.