In the '90s, I made a group of dinner detritus paintings- kitchen garbage, leftover pizza scraps, Chinese food, lobster parts - all the remains from previous night's fun. The idea was born from the Spanish kitchen still lifes, Bodegones that I saw in Madrid in 1990, as well as the garbage barge of 87. It had left Long Island and was denied a port so it wandered homeless searching for a place to offload- at the time I found it ironic, amusing as well as a sad harbinger of many of the environmental issues that we face today.I was questioning an idea, about the transient nature of life, our " disposable" society and the notion that "When you take the garbage out- ---where’s exactly is out?"

Working on a small intimate scale, now these still lifes, were a formal continuation of the theme from the 90’s, and ultimately led to the winter paintings “still lifes out my studio window.