White foamcore, colored papers.
36” x 29”

Matisse. If anyone would understand Simple it would be Henri. Painters usually paint with brushes. He famously “painted” with big fabric shears. And here I am trying to paint his portrait with #11 X-acto knives.

Another deep dive / art exploration in an unknown land. Studying at the knee of Henri. I started by covering a wall with his sketch portraits. And then got out my brushes and loosely painted his portrait over and over trying to get in his zone. To try to use at least a dialect of his visual language. To try to see what he saw. How he saw. And to relax the sharpness of the knife. Then I cut his brush stroke portrait into foam. Very mixed media. Still evolving.

Samurai and Still life are both a single carved layer on a base layer.

Here with Henri, I’m adding back color and adding a new level of foam and un connecting the pieces.

We will see where he takes us.

Stay tuned.