The Story
It all began with a meeting of an old friend at the airport; he was off for a week’s vacation down south. He was not himself and it scared me. He was under the influence of something and looked like he had added 20 years to his face. After in my studio, I couldn’t get the image of him out of my head and so I started to draw with paint on an empty canvas. Leaving the paint raised, I painted the words “Hope” across the empty canvas along with a tree, a baby and a sun. These images referred to our happy childhood together as friends. The 40” x 48” canvas was painted black but leaving the impression of the raised, embossed-like images underneath. I then started to create the best painting I have ever done; a city scene with a girl in an orange jacket holding a black umbrella, walking through reflections on dark pavement. On the other side of the painting, a man with an orange umbrella balances out the scene. In the background there is a row of people off in the distance, they are dark silhouettes with umbrellas. These figures look as if they guard the paradise on the horizon which is a soft white-green light that is emanating from the painting. Everyone in this painting seems to be alone except for one couple, holding onto each other, sheltered from the elements under an umbrella in an urban environment. Through darkness there is “Hope”.
But its creation was not without its trials. I remember I had added lots of bright colors like magenta and crimson. After seeing the painting, my wife Tonya wanted me to tone down the colors. I refused, an argument ensued over the painting, but after sometime I relented - I washed over the bright colors with black oil paint and thinner, this finish gave the painting a special look that inspired a hundred works of art that followed it.
The painting called “Hope" was put in the solo show “Transitions”. I had many opportunities to sell the painting but decided to give it to my wife for our 5th year wedding anniversary and it hung prominently in our house for several years.
I made the fateful mistake after meeting a photographer in New York who had an art gallery to send him the painting to have it photographed but not to be sold. Who would have thought that it would be the last time I would see it. The photographer hung it in his gallery to take a picture. But little did I know that there was a disagreement between the gallery owner and the landlord. Someone broke in that night and stole many things including my painting. A police report was issued; my work was put on the Stolen Art Registry. To complicate matters, the photographer declared bankruptcy, slowing the investigation. I was so lucky to have a copy of the painting as an image so at least I could make a giclee of the painting. I am currently setting up www.losinghope.info as a last resort to get the painting back. I know that painting is in the New York area and that the person who has it does not realize the history or the significance of it. I am offering a reward for anyone who can bring “HOPE” home.