Melody 1997

Melody - Acrylic and concrete on plywood, 1997

I did this piece under the aura of a really bad breakup. It took me about a month to complete, I was in a 'zone' with this one, that's for sure. I found the concrete covered piece of plywood at a contruction site as I was walking around the neighborhood one night. Some of the things I distinctly remember those nights is the Hale-Bopp comet in the sky, plainly visible to the naked eye. I also remember the suicidal deaths of all those Heaven's Gate people. Super positive thoughts, eh? I really was not thinking about that bad stuff, I was very inside my own inner world at the time and it really did not affect me until much later. I clammed up in a way. Past is past and hindsight is 20/20.

To this day this is one of my most prized paintings.
Sorry Catherine. :(


On the way to the mothership, 1997

Thirty-eight of the group members, plus Applewhite, the group's leader, were found dead in a rented mansion in the upscale San Diego community of Rancho Santa Fe, California, on March 26, 1997. Two former members of Heaven's Gate, Wayne Cooke and Charlie Humphreys, later died in copycat suicides. Humphreys had survived a suicide pact with Cooke in May 1997, but successfully committed suicide in February 1998. The mass death of the Heaven's Gate group was widely publicized in the media as an example of cult suicide.

The suicide was accomplished by ingestion of phenobarbital mixed with vodka, along with plastic bags secured around their heads to induce asphyxiation. They were found lying neatly in their own bunk beds, with their faces and torsos covered by a square, purple cloth. Each member carried a five dollar bill and three quarters in their pockets. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants, brand new black-and-white Nike athletic shoes, and armband patches reading "Heaven's Gate Away Team." The suicides were conducted in shifts, and the remaining members of the group cleaned up after each prior group's death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group)