July 4th #12622019 24x36 inches Wood Panel

24x36x1.5 inch acrylic and pastels on wood panel.

July 4th draws from the pedestrian pathway signs along Hudson River Park — universal stenciled figures, no two alike. Working through cut stencils, acrylic molding and crackle paste was pulled with a palette knife to build each figure in low relief on an already textured, painted panel. The figures rise an eighth of an inch from the ground, arranged in rows — a motif the artist has used before to explore ancestry and diversity. As the figures accumulated, a flag emerged from the thinking: people as stars. A red band anchors the bottom; gold loops drift through the blue ground, carrying their recurring suggestion of connection and energy.