Gallery

Lacrimosa – A Reqium for the Planet, 2004

For Watercan Exhibition, Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada

When WaterCan (an NGO that helps citizens of developing countries build sustainable water supply and sanitation services) asked me to participate in an Art for Water exhibition, I had just completed a series of studies of wetlands and marsh marigolds, and I thought, “I bet Monet would weep if he saw what we have done to our planet." Since much of my work is rooted in issues of public concern and water is a crucial issue for the future of the planet, I decided to create a work that would contrast the "purer" vision of the land held by an artist from the past with a view of today's landscape that reflects its aesthetic and environmental degradation. Thus the title, Lacrimosa: A Requiem for the Planet.

The work is a triptych. Monet, on the left, weeps at what he sees in the central panel: his haystacks have become studies of smokestacks. In the right panel a young man representing the future thirsts for clean water.

Medium: Gamblin cold wax medium and oil on canvas
Size: Total Size of Triptych: H 101.5x W 275 cm (40"x108")
-R & L Panels H 101.5 x 76.5cm (40"x 30")
Center Panel : H 101.5 x 153cm (40"x 48")

Exhibitions:
Watercan Exhibition, Museum of Nature, Ottawa 2003
Grand Forks Art Gallery, Grand Forks, B. C. 2004
Simon Fraser University, Acting of the Vision Water and Cities, Vancouver, B.C.