Page 51 - Vol. VII #7

“The Nuclear Family series presents a complex depiction of family life, con-
sidering both the joy of having a family as well as the trials involved in raising children, and maintaining a committed partnership. Having a family rewards boundless love, connection, and energy, but there is also ongoing struggle and conflict. Hopefully the series title captures this ambivalence. The job of a parent is to make an independent person who will at some point, eagerly walk out the front door and fend for themselves. Parenting is holding on tightly and gradually letting go. This is the tension I ex- plore in these paintings.
“The nuclear family also involves a partnership if not a marriage. Having kids and adapting to their evolving needs has a direct and irrevers- ible impact on a couple. They have to renegoti- ate responsibilities, develop new skills, accept new shortcomings, and find time and energy to balance the demands of work, children, their romantic partnership, as well as their
own personal health and development. They need to create the stable and secure home life children need to thrive, which can be directly at odds with what it takes to keep romance in a relationship. Many couples fall short of these demands, hence the 40–50% divorce rate in the United States, but even for those resilient couples who stay together, the challenges are universal and substantial. I hope these paint- ings represent that aspect of family life as well.
“I have always found the home, my own and others’, to be the richest source of drama, no matter how small or mundane. Still, I think of these narratives more as fiction than autobiography. I take inspiration from my own life and observations, but the translation into a model and then the painting is rarely direct and literal. Creating and lighting new, imagined scenes is half the fun.“
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