The Duchy of Jerald

Untitled Artist
"(An artist) makes liberal use of artistic license to significantly embellish or change the
circumstances of real-life incidents by any means possible" - Rosalind E. Krauss.
With my emphasis on feeling, I'm a personal history expressionist. I relate to Alice Neel, who
as "A successor to the expressionism of Chaim Soutine, Edward Munch, and Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, Neel used distorted drawing and invented color to reveal the character beneath each
sitter’s physical appearance(© Artsy)"
‎I use the camera, editing software, a formal education in painting aesthetics and a lifetime of
fine art practice to reveal what lies beneath; the poetry of existence.No one can teach me how to
draw, I can't draw a stickman. Which means I tried and failed and was bitterly disappointed.
(And so is everyone who ever said that).
Gary Ripley was listening, we were at a party for aspiring musicians, smoking dope and
playing guitar. He said, ummm I can teach you, and for the next several years he became a
friend, mentor, and instructor. And he did, teach me, using the same techniques that he was
taught, the same way artists had been training each other for 800 years in the history and
traditions of western European art history. It's A professional responsibility to recognize and
nurture talent, we take our responsibilities seriously, he said in the love bombing stage of our
relationship.
His father was run over by a steam roller when he was 3 and my father died a lung cancerous
coal miner when I was 2. He had a crazy narcissist Mom and so did I.
We became brothers.
I continued to study psychology, learn painting, and to heal from my family of origin. Gary
belittled my study, continuing to drink, and finally did the narcissist manifesto learned from his
Mom, overvalued (his star student), undervalued (academics is for losers) and dump. After 8
years my mentor, teacher and brother, threw me out of his life. I didn't paint for 15 years. Total
devastation.
My wife at the time, a psychologist going to law school, freaked out when Ripley and art
appeared in my life, and left. I was devastated once again. Worst of all, I went from the joy of
discovery of the essence of who I am, to a person dependant on art for my self esteem. Self