Oil on Canvas

48" x 48"

It is almost cliché to consider that an emerging artist would spend time in an instructional capacity.  I am no exception.  I had the privilege of serving as a roving art teacher in the Cleveland Public School System.  I developed friendships with a variety of adolescents who had genuine artistic talent.  Many of them were also self-proclaimed gangsters.  As I toured their respective turfs, I was struck, as so many are, by the magnificent colorism contained in the graffiti.  I was engrossed in the symbolism of the various characters announcing future assassinations.  War Talk is a representation of that environment depicting the dichotomy between the lively colorism and the deadly message.