What made me want to paint the migrant workers? I live in a very safe, beautiful environment in the woods in Connecticut.  I knew that I had to cross over the line to the other side into the unknown, into a place that most well-to-do and successful people would rather not tread. As a result I learned that fear of the unknown is just a wall that I needed to climb, and the people who live in dangerous, sad places are quite wonderful themselves and only need love and compassion from others to get them out, or improve their living conditions.

Americans came to this country for the same reason, to escape persecution and hunger. I started out as an artist who documented historical events that changed society, (The Romonovs and The Russian Revolution, The Gold Rush, illustrating  Robert Service's poetry, the Irish Famine, Child Labor in the 19th Century, ) but to me this is more interesting-the migrant labor issue, because it is happening now while history repeats itself. We have slavery going on this country.

Last year while I was visiting my childhood friend in Florida she told me about pesticides being sprayed on the migrant workers and how they were getting sick and giving birth to deformed babies. I was very bothered by this and kept thinking about it back in my studio in Connecticut while I was eating an apple.

In February my friend and I drove down to Homestead, Florida and I took photos of the migrants working in the fields, and I spoke to a couple of them and took portrait photos of them while they talked to me. I also visited other designated areas in Florida and then in March flew out to California to John Steinbeck country and photographed the migrants there.

While I was in the fields, something magical happened. I was totally mesmerized and enthralled. I was there with living history, and I was so excited I can not even describe it. The heat was stifling in Florida, and yet they were so quiet and moved so quickly, and accepted their fate without outward signs of sadness-yet the sadness was swarming in the air. And the colors in the sky and the harvest! The political power that is hanging over these people and skimming under the surface of their existence was and is quite apparent. There was always a truck lurking in the distance and sometimes a school bus painted black to blend in with the trees, which they were transported on in the early morning hours.

I spend 8 hours a day every day in my studio. Even though I paint quickly, I find that my style is evolving as I go back to certain areas of the canvas and slowly apply thick layers of paint on the trucks and train cars and in the sky to portray the thought process and contemplation of this time in living history.

Gallery Comment : The theme of these large-scale paintings is sensitively expressed and the message comes across in subtly beautiful ways. The richly worked oils with an inspired use of color and the refined sense of composition combine to make some exceptional works. (dg)

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