there are no<\/strong> other copies of the photo, at all. I mean there are plenty of digital ones now, but no negatives, no hard copy vintage prints. and, there are absolutely no other images of the three of us together.<\/p>\n it’s kind of fitting, that Simon ‘collected’ this photograph – he was very much into keeping ‘records’ of life – as it swirled around him. if Dan and I shared an (obsessed) interest in photography, for ‘holding onto time’ . . . . Dan documenting far-away places and indie bands, while my focus was on the art scene happening right before me, Simon was into collecting hands-on, actual ‘artifacts’, including working on newspaper pages that caught his eye, with their continuous moment-in-the-news immediacy, and gone-again . . temper.<\/p>\n coming to New York in the early 80s, was a really exciting time. “To be an artist in this age of materialism is the height of Romanticism<\/strong>. My paintings are first of all about ‘being’<\/strong>. I am not interested in technical categories, such as, abstraction or figuration. My main concern in painting is to ‘live in paint’<\/strong>. Painting for me is a way to talk myself and the world. My work incorporates toys, not only because of my own fascination with them, but because I feel that on a sublime level they reveal something about the particular civilization they belong to.”<\/p>\n this piece incorporates a small army of tiny war planes, Simon was into building model airplanes, tanks, and ships – with a narrow focus on WW II. WW II fascinated him. the ‘strip’ down the the right hand side is a piece of an actual model kit box, with ‘detailing’ – instructions. I think the scientist-type nerd \/ character in the newspaper image, is Allan Ginsberg ?<\/p>\n the image of the retro 50s family on the right – probably references his own<\/strong> family. when he died, he had left a little pink pencil eraser on the top of his diary of notes, it said – it had printed in black script on the top side:<\/p>\n “TIME WILL ERASE MY MISTAKES” – if only<\/strong> life was so, easy. Not.<\/p>\n but it all adds – up to great art. everybody can feel the emotion, even if they don’t know – the exact details.
\nwe all just thought, this is how it is, and – dive in !!
\nthis is Simon’s ‘artist’ statement’ from 1987 – that I found in his old papers, while getting ready to put up this show. <\/p>\n
\nso yeah, Simon got<\/strong> ‘tiny’ !!, nano, reproduction, replica – whatever.
\nme and Dan . . were not into ‘mini’ – at all.<\/p>\n
\nhis mom and dad.
\nhis mom was very stylish. she studied medicine at the Sorbonne in Paris, and his dad was a financial newspaper reporter.
\nthe ape on the left – ?
\nhis inner demons !!
\na lifelong battle & hence the magic<\/strong> of the title, ‘Under the Volcano’ – as well !! <\/p>\n
\nwar on the horizon, global warfare in the past, advanced technology warfare, and the war – within.
\nwithin the self, and within the family unit – as well.
\neven our goddamn genes – fight each other.
\nwe love, we fight. we reproduce, and we start all over . . .
\nand here I am in . . . NEW YORK CITY. <\/p>\n
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