The Ghost and the Spirit, 2005
Oil on canvas
18" x 24"
This picture was made shortly after my good friend Sam Maitin passed away and cannot help but be tied to his memory. I had been his studio assistant for many years and looked at him as a teacher and a friend.
In the corner of my house there is a fireplace with a wide mantle. On that mantle sits a white plaster bird made years ago by a friend of mine. Next to the fireplace hangs a picture and below that, a potted plant. I removed the picture and left only an empty frame and took the fire out of the fireplace and gave it to the plant. The plant also contains the form of one of my Imaginary Botanicals figures.
Something about this simple arrangement caught my eye as I as I was thinking about the similarities and differences in the words ghost and spirit. I liked how the meanings could shift when used to describe a friend rather than just an unknown person. The spirit in particular seemed to shift most upon realizing that it can contain both the energy the person had while alive and their accumulated knowledge.
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