In Vincent We Trust
2014
Water Colour On Cotton
8” (20cm) x 10” (25.5cm)

1/3

2020 - 2019

Huf

2020
Charcoal, Air Brush on Paper
70"x40”

On Thursday the 24th of September 2020 skateboarding lost a great! Anybody who had ever met Keith Hufnagel will tell you that he was one cool puppy. Huf skated with a effortless simplicity that was nothing short of total Grace, Pop and Style! For those in the know 😉“Nah Pop No style” 🙌. Our paths first crossed during his first skateboard tour of Australia and although our paths were to only cross a few more times since, we did happen to share some very good mates which somehow kept us connected over the past 20+ years. Back when I first heard of Huf’s brain condition I was totally bummed and like Farrrrrk! 😬 But Huf being Huf he was cool as a cucumber and seemed to just brush it off and get on with things like only he could??? In the end he fought well and for a moment there I thought that he may have nipped it in the bud, but unfortunately Cancer is a real kunt and I fark’n hate it!! 😩 Keith you were always a great supporter of my art and for this I’ll always be grateful, your likes and comments on my posts were both validating and always encouraging.🙏 So in Huf’s memory I’ve drawn a portrait for him. Huf you are a Skateboarding Legend and you will be sorely missed by all! Forever Huf. R.I.P✌️😔🖤🛹 🖤

WGC VS HALS

(The Gypsy Girl in the louvre) 2019
Ink, Spray-paint and acrylics on paper
4”x4”

WGC VS VINCENT

(The loon in Washington D.C)
2019
Ink, Spray-paint and acrylics, paper print on wood panel.
8x8”

Painted after my most recent visit to examine the painting by Vincent Van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1889, in the National Gallery of Art Washington D.C.

The “Washington D.C. Vincent” is one of the very last self–portraits that Vincent Van Gogh ever painted. It was painted during his voluntary internment into an asylum and just before he suffered a severe breakdown that is said to be a symptom of his suspected epilepsy but other theories and diagnoses have been suggested over the years, including, bipolar manic-depressive disorder, schizophrenia and alcohol even poisoning.

His breakdown left him disabled for five weeks and he was greatly unnerved by the experience which led him to retreat into his studio where he refused to leave or even go outside to his garden. It was during this time “locked up” in his studio (Covid-19 Style) that he painted two self portraits one of which is in Washington and the other in Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

In a letter to his brother Vincent wrote that he preferred the “Washington D.C Vincent” and remarked that he felt he had captured the true character of himself.  In his own world’s Vincent wrote “They say—and I am very willing to believe it—that it is difficult to know yourself—but it isn't easy to paint yourself either. So I am working on two portraits of myself at this moment—for want of another model—because it is more than time I did a little figure work. One I began the day I got up; I was thin and pale as a ghost.”

The Eschaton, on pause till tomorrow.

2020
Acrylic, Pastel, Spray-Paint & Charcoal (from the Australian bushfires)
44”x30” (111.76cmx76.2cm)
Philadelphia USA

Smoking Bacon

(A deadee Portrait of Francis Bacon)
2019
Oil on Linen
70"x40”

2018 - 2012

Observation 23: The Last Cig

2018
Acrylic on Wood Panel
10"x10"

My painting submission (Left) for the BARNES FOUNDATION Let's Connect exhibition, is a response to Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s pastel artwork Two Nudes, c. 1897 (BF154). Renoir’s small, simple but fascinating artwork left me wondering, What were these two nude women actually doing? Dancing? Making love? Wrestling? The ambiguity set my mind racing and the image lingered with me well after leaving the Barnes. Later that evening whilst walking home through the city centre and past the Board Game Art Park or “The Pit” as the local Philly skateboarders like to call it, I witnessed an argument between two women whom appeared to be suffering from a substance abuse disorder. Their argument quickly turned violent over who would get to smoke the last cigarette. This quickly resulted with the pair wrestling to the ground and mirroring with uncanny accuracy the rolling pose of Renoir’s two nudes. This juxtaposition of Renoir’s artwork, the pit fighters and the coincidental link to “smoking a cigarette”, a theme common within many of the artworks of Barnes collection, all helped culminate this painting study that I’ve titled Observation 23: The Last Cig.