These paintings aim to inspire thought and contemplation about practical situations.
Backbones for Polar Bears depicts polar bears literally standing atop floating vertebra in place of ice, representing the importance of floating habitat to the bears
Lungs of the Earth presents the shape of human lungs superimposed onto the Amazon forest basin, emphasizing the key step in the planet’s gaseous circulation cycles.
Protective Wetlands superimposes a martial arts shielding block over the Louisiana bayou, conveying how that landmark buffers the remainder of the state against storms from the sea.
Smorgasbord in a Dumpster greets the eye with an assortment of victuals piled high in a disposal vessel, reflecting on the enormous (approximately 43% of gross production in the United States) amount of food discarded annually around the globe. This painting also implicitly comments on the social ill of starvation, much of which could likely be averted by supply-chain reform.
Small Earth, Many Appetites reminds the viewer of the need to plan for sustainability in the face of an ever-increasing population via the visual of a miniature plated earth surrounded by wanting hands holding bowls which in totality require more volume to fill than the plated resource can sustain.
Pea Soup over Los Angeles shows the accumulated emissions of over thirteen million people’s lifestyles as a bowl of viscous pea soup. The verdant stew is a reference to the phrase “pea soup fog” once used to describe smog conditions in cities such as London, England, where, at times in the past, dozens would expire daily due to the toxic air. Toxic smog conditions continue to plague certain cities in some days such as Shanghai, Denver, and Los Angeles due to the sheer density of population. The painting is not a condemnation of Los Angeles city emissions policies, which are in fact rather strict, but a message about particular dangers of excessive congregation.
Consumer Fork is a cue to holistically consider the pros and cons of consuming food and medicines from different sources. The fork in the road may be a visual dichotomy, but the image is intended to imply the full spectrum of degrees of processing, from raw flora and fauna, to processed products, to chemicals synthesized directly from the periodic table. The painting does not pretend to have definitive stances for or against any specific product given the sheer intricacy of the world of resources. It accompanies a recognition of both the potential dangers of raw resources and the genuine capacity of mankind to create legitimately good and beneficial things. It does, however, invite more deliberate thought, and the spirit of the painting skews to the raw side of things relative to that toward which societies (developed ones in particular) tend to gravitate in modern times.