Luck of the Draw is a collection of oil studies appropriated from news imagery, reprocessed and represented as portraits, all 12” x 16” or 16” x 12”. This body of work stems from the question: Why was I born in this life, in this body, and not another? I collected, copied, resized and reinterpreted news imagery from many highly circulated sources, then working from passport photo sized images I render outlines and free paint in oil. I look deeply, asking why them and not me? I identify, as though I am the camera, the friend or family member documenting events, taking snapshots, or staging portraits. It connects to my roots, seeing the world through eyes of photography. I feel a responsibility to pay tribute.

These portraits were installed in Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Rhinebeck, NY in 2014 throughout the season of Lent, for reflection, the exhibition named by the pastor “The Gethsemane Project”. Some were again employed on Good Friday, 2019 for a prayer service at the same church.

My hope is that viewers will relate to these painted images as equal human beings and reconsider their reactions, be moved and connected to commonality rather than superficially processing the images as just news.