The following pictures are a sampling of some of my 28 paintings that were on exhibition at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. (Oct/Nov of 1994). Austria held a celebration to commemorate the 100 years since the birth of my grandfather. The consulate offered me a one month exhibition of my current works in 1994. My grandfather is a world famous artist and if you would like to view his incredible work then please go to his website Herbert-Boeckl.com.

The reception for the exhibition was terrific, particularly if you like great food and Austrian Bier. A little bit of commentary of the work from the 1990s (and as a result the exhibition follows at the bottom of this page). The quality of the digital images was the best I could make a decade ago and therefore I apologize for the dark and muddy images.

The pictures shown statically and without music follows:

Midnight Moon, 1993. Sticks & Oil on canvas. Size 2' x 3'

Self Portrait Painting, 1994. Details middle and right.
Plaster, Brush, Oil on plywood. Size 2' x 4'

I used to be a little boy, 1994. Triptych.

Plaster, candles, mirror, colored aluminum and oil on plywood panels. Each panel 2' x 4'

The Candle Dancer, 1994.	Welcome to the Machine, 1994
Plaster, Candle and Oil on Plywood. Size 2' x 4'	Circuit card and Oil on Canvas. Size 3' x 2'

Sarajevo, 1994. Computer boards and Oil on Canvas. Size 2' x 4'	Detail of Sarajevo.

Blue Orbit, 1994. Plaster and paint on luan. Size 4' x 2'

Maui Waui, 1994. Plaster and paint on luan. Size 2' x 3'

Photo montage of the exhibition paintings set to music. This montage shows the paintings much larger. Click the back button on your browser to return to this page once montage completes. Sometimes you must hit reload the page a few times as I wrote the code for the montage and it is a little glitchy. You will know when you have seen the entire montage as you will return to the starting images.

Additional Commentary on the 1990s follows:

The exhibition was titled "Views from the basement window-well", because the pictures were quite frankly created in my basement and therefore were concepts, rather than of something in particular such as a landscape or as was the rage in those days, to make pictures which had no particular concept in the artist's mind before they began a picture. In those days I called myself a Post-Existentialist because I rejected the ideas that were strangling the life out of the modern painting world. The art world pursued work that reinforced those concepts of purposelessness and in general art works which were really material exploration at their core instead of conceptual intention on the artist's part. There was also a movement which existed throughout the 20th century to try and shock the viewer as well which unfortunately received allot of press and further added to the bewilderment as to where modern art was and was trying to go. Though there is nothing wrong with material exploration, unlike shock art which is useless in art outside of a specific social issue, the art world had literally become derailed as they held fast to these precepts. It is no wonder you have heard very little on new work subsequent to the minimalists because material exploration had for the most part run out of room to grow.

Therefore without any new work which spoke to the existential dogma, the art world stalled totally, even though I am quite confident that by the late 1970s (and certainly by the early 80s), everyone in the art world had completely lost site of the fact that painting from the abstract expressionists onward had been guided by existentialist thinking. Further, I felt that works that were created without any concept to begin with, were the equivalent of eating candy for daily nourishment instead of wholesome foods. Since that had been going on for over 50 years, I think everyone ended up with a mental stomach ache instead of trying to look or move forward. The pictures I painted in the 1990s were conceptual and did attempt to convey meaning but I myself had my energy sapped as a result of not understanding what it was I was trying to say, other than these pictures are not material exploration and the exploration of an individual idea. They were each created with a concept and meaning behind them that I struggled to bring through the picture (and of course many times I did not succeed in the attempt). However then as today I paint in a series fashion and just the point of screaming that existentialism in painting was dead, I didn't understand what I was trying to say. It really grated on me. I hit a mental wall as a result and so I stopped painting for over 10 years. It took me that long to think through the problem and as a result I have restarted painting last year as I have found not only what I do want to say but what had happened to modern painting as well. I found my bearings so to speak. I will update the website with those pictures and more commentary on that subject when I have a chance to digitize the new paintings.

The good news today however is the Internet. Who knows what will come but for sure the possibilities are without limit. If you just search on artist communities you can find them everywhere. Art is flourishing again around the world and the world that awaits the generations of the future is going to be more varied than anyone could have ever conceived of. I myself tried to create digital and electronic multi-media art works but discovered that I did not enjoy the process of making art in that way. So I have stuck with a form of traditional painting even though it is likely that it will go the way of the other virtually extinct painting styles, such as fresco painting. Interestingly enough an idea which has turned into research for a book that I am contemplating writing, brought me back to painting. It was so long I felt like I had to learn how to paint from scratch again. Perhaps someday I will post the book as well, but today it is far from finished so another day in the future perhaps.

Back to Homepage or more galleries viewing: 2000s ,- Postcards to Vincent,- 1990s ,- More 90s ,- 1980s ,- 80s Collage ,- 1970s , Paper Works

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