These new small paintings are about my lifelong fascination with industrial subjects, especially at the nexus of oil & steel. Dick Bellamy's Oil & Steel Gallery at 157 Chambers Street in lower Manhattan (1980-1985) was one of my frequent clients for rigging and transportation of heavy sculpture during the years I provided these services to many artists, museums and galleries, although I was never fortunate enough to join the hallowed ranks of the artists exhibiting work there.
Coalinga 148 is an image from a great detour I took through central California on my way back from delivering 13 paintings to the show north of LA last month. Tank Car is from the rail line near my studio in Portland that has been seeing increasing numbers of long unit trains of Bakken crude from North Dakota in transit to the terminal at Clatskanie, Oregon where it is loaded on vessels for transport down the Columbia River. The rapidly increasing volume of this traffic and the route is cause for concern for many in the communities along the tracks who worry about the potential for catastrophic accidents involving the explosive product.