Evil’s Place

Evil’s Place 30x 48 mixed dedia on canvas

Another in a series of painting collaborations between Nick Cerrato and myself. Evil’s Place deals with the relationship between good and evil. We see God pushing down against the hand of Satan. There is no doubt about who is higher, who is mightier. We know Evil’s Place. As God presses downward with His left hand, He pours out his love upon the Earth with his right hand. We are the object of His eye, his truest love. Though we sin and fight against the good, He knows we will one day see the light and not be distracted by the evil that currently reigns on Earth.

The combination of abstract expressionism with narrative elements is at the core of what Nick and I are doing together. The combination is prooving to reveal more than the sum of our parts. I am so grateful Nick has come into my life. He is good natured and very patient with me as I strive to listen to his wise artistic impulses and ideas. His painting is teaching me, if I listen. I sit with them a long time before I begin my half of the process. Sometimes I do very little. I am becoming a much better listener because of Nick. We invite the viewer to listen with their eyes. The magic of our collaboration can bring you to new levels of consciousness.

Do you know of an Exhibition Venue that might be interested in our collaboration?

What is our process? With only the scantest idea of a plan, a simple sketch, Evil’s Place was launched with the initial throwing down of the paint, mostly assisted by Robert, but executed solely by Nick. The goal here is to harness Nick’s magnificent gift, which is his freedom and spontaneity. These brilliant sweeps of paint and Nick’s expressive mark making is how the painting begins. Nick’s ability to get out of his own way is off the charts, partly because he has Cerebral Palsy and can only make spontaneous, impulsive marks; unselfconscious marks most abstract expressionists would die to be able to make. The other thing you need to know about Nick is he has an artist’s eye and an artist’s soul. There is no room for the slightest contrivance or fakery. His job is to strike, then get out of the way. All artists are two people: the one who paints and the other to tell him when to stop. Nick is an abstract expressionist, in the purest sense of the word. Robert’s role in this stage is to furnish paint and direct the general contours of the map they have in mind, and otherwise to simply allow Nick to do his magic. There is a general consensus between the two as to when enough is enough at this stage.