Voyeur [Vegas Voyeur]
24X24 inches
Enamel, spray paint, oil, acrylic on canvas
-Voyeur was originally this guy I noticed standing by a trash can smoking a cigarette watching women in a Las Vegas casino.
He's one of the guys who specializes in being invisible especially around women, he can literally blend with his surroundings to watch them in a way that most men cannot.
The bright light from his strong inhaling on the cigarette at the sight of a female passerby brought my attention to his otherwise invisible status.
Then one day I was walking through one of the more upscale casinos and this guy was gambling with a crowd of people around him watching as if in a trance.
He had almost a million dollars in front of him when he began but now he was down to less the one hundred thousand dollars.
I wondered how a guy that was already rich could do something so financially reckless and it occured to me that the lure of the Vegas fantasy,"scoring" not only trickles down to working class guys, it flows upward to guys that don't need to take chances like that with money.
The image of Las Vegas gets programmed into our minds at a very early age as this ostentatious place with outragously beautiful women everywhere, fortunes to be won (and lose) and it never leaves us.
A scantily clad waitress was plying him with free alcohol and he didn't seem to mind losing the money in fact it looked as if he was encouraged by the attention.
Where else would a person be encouraged to venture such a large amount of money under the influence of such destractions?
Regardless of where a persons from, what their race or nationality is the mythology of Las Vegas has probably made a lasting impression of some kind before having arrived there.
Rational behavior all but vanishes under such sensory overload......the sounds, bright lights, beautiful women, all that money just inches away, with such temptations omnipresent most guys just aren't responsible for their actions.
That look in the eyes of the guy standing next to the trash can smoking a cigarette watching women walk by, those people staring at the gambler losing all that money, Him watching them watching him....Voyeurism takes on another dimension in a place like Las Vegas.
The painting is an amalgamation of those events.-
Kokuzin - (pronounced ko-ko-gee, Japanese for Negro)
48x36 inches
Enamel, Crushed Rocks, dirt, tempera on canvas
What has (4) I's but cannot see,Mississippi. (misspelled Genisis)
24X24 inches
Enamel, spray painted stenciled letters, Acrylic, Oil, Bible passage, crushed rock and dirt on canvas with Aluminum dust pan (not viewed).
"Art is not cumulative, additive. One cannot say that one picks up Matisse and carries on, Matisse said all there was to say about Matisse.
He did open certain doors, but he said all there was to say in his own creative work.
One cannot say that one takes Picasso and is going to continue him. That is impossible, He gives some direction, but you have to start all over again"."The artist does not know what he is doing.
He wants to attain something he vaguely perceives. He works his way towards a solution".
-Edouard Pignon-
Blue Mary Magdalene and Baby Christ
48X36 inches (Painting inspired by The Yellow Christ by Paul Gauguin 1889, the head for Mary "borrowed" from photo of singer/actor Cher)
Acrylic,enamel on canvas
Well I just heard the news today
It seems my life is going to change
I closed my eyes, begin to pray
Then tears of joy stream down my face
With arms wide open
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open
Well I don't know if I'm ready
To be the man I have to be
I'll take a breath, take her by my side
We stand in awe, we've created life
With arms wide open
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open
Now everything has changed
I'll show you love
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open
If I had just one wish
Only one demand
I hope he's not like me
I hope he understands
That he can take this life
And hold it by the hand
And he can greet the world
With arms wide open........
Lyrics to "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed
Suicide Hotline, Tormented Soul, Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat
48x60 inches
Oil,charcoal,? on canvas
(Phone rings at Suicide Prevention)
Operator: Hello
Jean-Michel: Is, is this suicide hotline?
Op: Yes, my names Joe whats yours?
JM: Jean-Michel
Joe: Jean-Michel, what's that french?
JM: Haitian....I'm gonna, i'm gonna blow my brains out.....
Joe: Wait a minute talk to me.
JM: No i'm gonna take these pills
Joe: What kind of pills?
JM: Reds, blues, greens, whole fuckin rainbow. Trustees harrassin me.....
Joe: Are you in prison?
JM: No, city's killin me
Joe: Your talkin to the right person how is it killing you?
JM: Boyfriend left
Joe: Been there, did you love him?
JM: Not specially, i'm alone, (sigh) we all are here.
Respect fools get, disrespect i get.....
Joe: I have respect for you just for making this call this is not an easy call to make
JM: You won't be so arrogant once the police arrive
Joe: You ok, whats that noise?
JM: (snickering) That's just my mother......
Excerpt from the movie "Basquiat"
Airborne
12X12 inches
Enamel,acrylic, Crushed rocks, dirt on canvas
Allen Deddi Merion was a contemporary of Jean-Michel Basquiat. They spent time together in 1982-83 during the period Jean-Michel painted Profit I, which sold at auction in 2002 for $5,509,500. This painting was done for actor Benicio Del Toro for his role as Al Diaz in the movie Basquiat. The painting is located in Las Vegas, Nevada where Allen is presently working. To contact me e-mail hisroyalunhyness@hotmail.com Allen Deddi Merion
"I think that in order to attain self-fulfillment one must be brave enough to hover at the brink and fall at times.
It is by paying this price, and through dangerous undertakings that one emerges sufficently original to be able to see the way clearly and stick to it without faltering".
-Roger Bissiere-