sunrise, 125 x 140cm, oil on canvas, 2011 morning dew, 200 x 140cm, oil on canvas, 2011 estimated prophet, 200 x 140cm, oil on canvas, 2011

perhaps the essence of an image’s timelessness relates to the infinity of its nostalgia. nostalgia knows no bounds. rite of passage is a series developed from a 1989 grateful dead documentary entitled ‘love on $14’ that was shot and edited on vhs tape, then transferred to the internet, then saved as a screen capture, projected, and painted. in this way, the incidental moments, those especially laden with infinity, become monuments to timelessness, monuments to the infinity of their nostalgia.

i never attended a grateful dead concert. when i was 14 i was gifted a box of live grateful dead tapes, which hooked me. i would listen to these tapes in secret, as i knew no others with a penchant for the grateful dead. the concert documentary was filmed in east troy, wisconsin at alpine valley. i have attended concerts at alpine valley, but not this one, during which i would have been 7 years old. yet i know the figures and the zen of their pre-internet horizons quite intimately.

each painting is named after a similarly evocative and period sensitive grateful dead song. the documentary may be found here.

the concert series may be heard here: July 17, 1989 July 18, 1989 July 19, 1989