I believe that in the same way you give flowers to express sympathy or joy, I had made these imaginary botanicals as a way to express my grief and anguish over the events of that day. I remember thinking that those events would unavoidably surface in my pictures.

On the day of 9/11, I managed to create a single work on paper that specifically referenced the World Trade Center tragedies. I considered this work a failure in its ability to say anything other than what a blood-red color can say about the end of so many lives. I quickly realized that it was overly simplistic of me to remake the horrors of that day. I realized that other pictures that followed would be an artistic deadend if I had followed the progression of that first picture. I concluded that I wanted to make statements about the events but I didn't want the events to dictate my own artistic direction. I asked myself what I wanted to do rather than what I would be expected to do. I considered it my own rejection of the aims of terrorism. Reflecting on this work lead me to reject it as a launching pad for other works and to start anew with the series of Imaginary Botanicals.

Why Imaginary?

One of the best parts for me about this series is the use of the word imaginary in the title. The word imaginary is not only intended to describe the botanicals but is also a suggestion to the viewer that they should use their imagination while looking at them. It is a way of allowing the audience's creativity to change the image so that two people can see different things within the same image. My hope is to involve the viewer in the creative process like the modernists did. For me it is a reaction to the commercialization of art at the cost of a shared artistic vision.

Why Botanicals?

Interestingly enough, the origins of these botanicals stem from an entirely different source other than a reaction to 9/11. When I first started making them, I had been thinking about what I was encountering during my time at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. I had been working with the botany department at the Academy and had been exposed to their impressive collection of specimens. In particular, I had seen the herbarium collection of specimens collected by Lewis and Clark during their Corps of Discovery expedition. Seeing these specimens and thinking of their journey, I had the idea that I wanted to create my own specimens and more importantly, to create my own type specimens (the first of it's kind to be discovered). Since I didn't really want to just illustrate plants and flowers, I saw this as an opportunity to start a series of unique pictures that could be manipulated to suit my desires. The choice of calling them botanicals rather than plants or flowers also gave me a large amount of freedom to create. It also put me in the frame of mind that what I was creating were not just colorful pictures but a serious study of what imagery could be created within the subject of botanicals. I also felt that my time at the Academy of Natural Sciences allowed me to explore the immense link between art and science.

The series started as small watercolors on paper but after a few months, they started to evolve into larger pictures. Some of them became larger versions of the studies while others started as entirely new designs. After a few weeks, I had also started to infuse additional imagery into the botanical designs. As I often do, I looked backwards at what I had been working on before the series and specifically at a series of odalisques. As an example, the last painting of note in this series was the Grand Odalisque; the work became the pinnacle of the series. This same female form can be found in numerous versions of the Imaginary Botanicals.

Both the Odalisques and the Imaginary Botanicals shared similar construction methods and iconic concepts. This is evident in the mark making where a field of marks makes up a swirling wind-like pattern. These marks are both a nod to Van Gogh and a way by which I can paint not only the forms but also the space between them. This concept of painting the space between objects was adopted from the earliest discoveries of cubism. In the Botanicals series, this technique is apparent in many of the watercolors (featured in the catalog) in which you can see layers of space overlaying other layers.

The Series Evolved

Just as I thought the series of works was coming to an end, it took a few turns by reappearing in a large painting titled Aggressive Nature (pictured right). The finished painting turned out to be one of my largest ever made at 17' and was on public display in May 2003 at Daffy's Art Window in Philadelphia. This painting took the idea of the imaginary botanical into a new phase where they became an element in the picture rather than a central theme. The botanical forms in this picture spoke of the durability of the nature of mankind while the painting itself spoke indirectly of the ongoing Iraq war.

The Catalog

The Imaginary Botanicals catalog was created to make a permanent record of what I believe was an important development in my work. This softbound catalog contains 28 full-color reproductions with 4 double-page spreads. This catalog is published by Xlibris Publications. Click here to place your order.