VIRAGO -2010

This was my first solo exhibition in a fine art gallery. I think there were around 30 paintings, with one large piece displayed in the window facing a main Toronto Streetcar line on Queen St. East. It’s worth noting that, at that time, pop surrealism or underground art had been virtually ignored by galleries in Canada and it was a dramatic departure from the traditional landscapes and abstracts that people were accustomed to seeing. So many people told me that they saw the work from the streetcar window, got off the streetcar before their stop to find out the name of the artist, then waited for the next car. The reaction to this show was surprising. People were sharing the work on line and I started receiving messages from other countries. In just a few months these paintings had managed to reach around the world via the internet. Surprisingly, that show sold immediately and I was able to focus full-time on my art. I see a lot of my ten year old self in this collection of work. I didn’t initially set out to make it a series. It just so happened that once I’d committed myself to painting exactly what I wanted, out came all these matriarchal women existing in a world where the men had been eliminated. These characters were confrontational, tight lipped and venomous; a group of black widows and empresses demonstrating a violently autocratic nature.