About Minas
Minás Konsolas was born in Greece and has lived in Baltimore since 1976, where he graduated from the Maryland Institute, College of Art. He is the former owner of Minás Gallery, an outlet for poetry, both visual and verbal. The gallery, one of Baltimore's alternative art spaces, was a gathering spot for artists, writers and performers for twenty-two years. He subsequently sold his business and now works full-time from his studio in Charles Village.
Konsolas has participated in… more
Harmony of Opposites
Artist Statement
Heraclitus' theory about the harmony of opposites proposes that opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent. Their tension and conflict lead to a balanced and harmonious whole. Thinking vs feeling, rational vs irrational, hot vs cold, wet vs dry, chaos vs order. With a diverse range of influences, I examine the two-way relationship between us and nature. Nature is us and we are nature. I challenge the traditional notion of representation. I use colors, shapes, lines, and forms to evoke emotions. This allows viewers to interpret every painting in their own way.
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Into the Future
Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024
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Surrender
Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024
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La Casa Del Mar
Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024
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Peace Puzzle
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2023
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A Tree is a Tree
Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024
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Sound of Light
Acrylic on canvas, 30x30in, 2023
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Oncoming Night
Acrylic on canvas, 30x40in, 2023
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Eye Kissing Light
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2023
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Slant of Light
Acrylic on canvas, 30x40in, 2023
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Fading Skyline
Acrylic on canvas, 30x40in, 2023
Nature of Light
Light by itself is not visible. It is the energy of particles and frequencies. We only see the objects that receive it.
My paintings are an act of thought, where I co-exist with landscape and light. These works are not an exact representation but a subjective personal reality, reduced to its essence. They are the encounter of horizontal and vertical lines plus the interaction of color, light and form.
My ultimate objective is the creation of emotion and beauty visible to you, the viewer, as I understand them.
Enjoy!
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Sentinel_2023_AcrylicOnCanvas_36x36in_(Small)_4.jpg
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2023.
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Snowball Effect
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.
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Bales
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.
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Among the Trees
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.
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Nothing Gold can Stay
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.
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No Crash, No Splash
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2023.
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Ebb & Flow
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.
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Menace in the Sky
Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.
A Place Under the Moon
In his series, A Place Under the Moon, Minas Konsolas recalls locations he has visited, during his life and travels, from a perspective of poetic sentiment and love. Each image – a combination of paper collage and pastels on canvas – shows a vibrant outdoor setting where nature predominates, and solitude and quiet are implied through the calm and harmony of the visuals. Though it is a world inhabited by humans, their presence is only implied by structures or paths they have left behind. In one image, Great Blue Heron, humanity has no foothold at all.
Each image is almost a motion picture: flowing, dynamic lines suggest gentle wind or movement of water while reds, oranges and earth tones evoke warmth and vibrancy. While the subject matter and placid tone of these images unite the series in terms of content, their flowing and dynamic visual style speaks to a larger world – playful, evocative, inviting, and spanning the globe.
Finally, each picture is a mosaic of smaller pieces, like fragments of a mirror, implying multiple ways the viewer might interpret the larger image. Form and content are thus intertwined, giving each scene both a physical and a stylistic presence, speaking at once to the particular and the universal. A Place Under the Moon presents us with vivid, magical landscapes which are both real and imagined…their ultimate meaning left mostly up to us.
---Richard Brett , Associate Professor of Cinema and Communication, McDaniel College.
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Lavender MoonPaper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
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Evening Prayer
Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
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Great Blue HeronPaper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
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Demeter'sBarnPaper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
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Lily LandPaper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
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Prosefchi (Prayer)Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
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Transcending by the RiverPaper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
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BluebirdPaper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
CubiCity
By working with collage on canvas, I am trying to create a warm, patchwork effect, reminiscent of a comfortable quilt. These pieces are my way of embracing the city that I love so much.
This is my attempt to express a heartfelt connection to Baltimore, my adopted hometown. Please join me in celebrating the beauty of Baltimore’s architecture.
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Patterson ObservatoryCollage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019.
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RoundhouseCollage on Canvas, 30x24in, 2019.
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Mr. Trash WheelMr. Trash Wheel. Collage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019.
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Bromo TowerCollage on canvas, 30x24in, 2019.
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Rawlings ConservatoryRawlings Conservatory. Collage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019.
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The Seven Foot Knoll LighthouseCollage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019
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Washington MonumentCollage on canvas, 36x24in, 2019.
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Sherwood GardensCollage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019
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Bay BridgeBay Bridge. Collage on canvas, 24x24in. 2019
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Domino SugarsCollage on canvas, 24x24, 2019.
Aurora
Pointillism, or divisionism is a style which involves the separation of colors into individual dots. A thousand points of light made by a spectrum of diverse shades, hues and intensities. Once on the canvas, the viewer is invited to optically mix them into one image. Chromoluminarism is a term used in mosaics.
This body of work will be exhibited at the Hamilton Gallery in March- April 2018 in conjunction with Baltimore's Light City Festival.
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Bain de SoleilMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017.
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Visible RadiationMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
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BayKingMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
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Cycladic LoversMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
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MeditationMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
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Meditation on ChlorophyllMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017.
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Topiary MoonMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017.
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SanctuaryMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
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PeruseMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
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ShortcutMixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
Sequence
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ParadeMixed media on canvas, 36" x 48", 2016
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ApplauseMixed Media on canvas, 36" x 48", 2016.
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OptimumContrastMixed Media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2016.
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ParticlesMixed media on canvas, 36" x 48", 2016.
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GrapeStompingMixed media on canvas, 36" x 48" 2016.
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ConferenceMixed media on canvas, 36" x 48", 2016.
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WoodstockMixed media on canvas, 48" x 36", 2016
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TimesSquareMixed media on canvas, 36" x 36", 2016.
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Bamboo_36x36_2017.jpgMIxed media on canvas, 36" x 36", 2017
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Passenger Window_24x18_2016.jpgMixed media on canvas, 24" x 18", 2016
Frame of Mind
Immersed in the mystery of all that exists. Unable to read the bird’s eyes, I wonder ‘til the brightness of the sun blinds me. As if light and darkness were not opposites, but they exist as one.
I am interested in the idea that we all see things differently because we filter things through our own frame of mind. Your opinion matters.
As an experiment, I asked six literary friends to write one sentence about each painting. The writers were: David Beaudouin, Betsy Boyd, Tracy Dimond, Amanda Fiore, Nancy Murray, and Alan Reese.
The results added an intriguing layer of perspective and interaction. Will what they see change what you see?
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Frame of Mind 13Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 40", 2015 ________ David: That surrounds us for this moment, not unlike life ________ Betsy: Don’t ever be afraid to walk straight ahead, into yesterday. ________ Tracy: wear a white dress in the rain / a canvas for color of the sky ________ Amanda: First, tear your hair out, then laugh, then lay in the grass, in love with the sky. ________ Nancy: When I am ready I will walk through the gate, leaving a swirling clutter of clues behind me. When you are ready, come find me. ________ Alan: Through the golden doorway, escape to the colorless world where hearts beat silently and a stone bridge beckons.
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Green Against the SkyAcrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 24", 2015 ________ David: Like that first day with you:r funny blue hat and green bumbershoot ________ Betsy: Not her face—it was her playful cap and her patience when you asked for directions that made you know. ________ Tracy: after long conversations / the face becomes / the face of another ________ Amanda: Come! You are me, and we are one. Yes? ________ Nancy: Behind every city window is a face, without reflection, waiting to be seen. ________ Alan: While the world burns, a sky blue woman, faceless with shame, displays the last green swatch of earth.
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Frame of Mind 11Acrylic & ink on canvas, 36" x 24", 2015 ________ David: Where I find you, waving hi on a bicycle of all things ________ Betsy: “Flame your hair,” he called to her, so she stood up and pedaled, then stilled her body on the bike. ________ Tracy: trouble breathing in / side with your lonely gravity ________ Amanda: So many days, all wild with light, and changing. ________ Nancy: There is a great and delightful difference between industry and growth. _________ Alan: The wind purifies our present. We outrace the smoke of the past.
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Frame of Mind 10Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 40", 2015 ________ David: Because everywhere you are, a vase of blue hydrangeas, sunlit water ________ Betsy: A ladder of sunlight on the waves is not something you have to work to climb ________ Tracy: a bird cries over the ocean: solidarity / the sun covers all of us ________ Amanda: Some other evening, more incredible than the one you left me on, will come singing. ________ Nancy: Whether the sun rises or sets is irrelevant to the nature of tranquility. ________ Amanda: And in this place may we find everlasting peace.
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Frame of Mind 8Acrylic & ink on canvas, 24" x 18", 2015 ________ David: Where any odd thing with feathers makes perfect sense ________ Betsy: “The people here build intricate nests outside the birds’ houses,” she told him. ________ Tracy: where is your social turn signal / standing above the water ________ Amanda: Autumn, and the crack of dry leaves. ________ Nancy: Art and nature will not be contained. ________ Alan: The electric snow goose is mute for the moment.
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Frame of Mind 6Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 30", 2015 ________ David: Not blue at all in this green place, day folding ________ Betsy: At twilight a soft pencil line and small glass of wine are all you really need. Tracy: comment from the sky: the leaves belong to no one ________ Amanda: What I found about the wind sharpening, and the last moments of light. ________ NM: Step away from your contemplation and watch nature swoop down and perch in your place. ________ Alan: Lost in this moment, I am inside my outside and outside my inside.
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Frame of Mind 5Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 30", 2015 ________ David: Where we leave but return to always, like a great painting ________ Betsy: The sailboat returned after Hanna’s death—she was sure she saw it. ________ Tracy: try to address identity / taste the color you wear / dripping from the walls ________ Amanda: There is no beginning or end to speak of that could hope to possess either you, or I. ________ Nancy: If you have no art to hang on the walls, look out the window and find it there. ________ Alan: I am always sailing to reach you, the full moon of my dreams.
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Frame of Mind 4Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 30", 2015 ________ David: As it makes us, greenly, in its eye _______ Betsy: The light on the porch bronzed on her face—like she’d drunk cups of golden wine. ________ Tracy: in this dream / I drink to everyone I’ll never meet / in collected thoughts before the sky ________ Amanda: There has been you, there has been beauty. ________ Nancy: It is what is cultivated that grows. ________ Alan: Gazing over the fertile fields, I find the world meets me at my window, washing over me with its light.
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Frame of Mind 1Acrylic & ink on canvas, 36" x 48" , 2014. ________ David: Into another stroke of memory to flood a wall with light ________ Betsy: Please exit through any available artwork. ________ Tracy: clean up worthwhile scraps / the money from the floor ________ Amanda: Everywhere I look, comes alive. ________ Nancy: Let art spill outside of the frame and follow it wherever it takes you. ________ Alan: Here, memory and experience interleave like synaptic tree branches, urging and yearning.
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Frame of Mind 3Acrylic & Ink on canvas, 36" x 48" , 2015 ________ David: Outside of it is another world we make ________ Betsy: When she thought of their friendship, she tended to see them through open windows, a road welcoming their footsteps. ________ Tracy: purple lights the heart pillars / hold a chest tight ________ Amanda: When you turn your back, trust the wind, and sail through this, to that. ________ Nancy: Spaces, minds and hearts must remain open for light and love to come and go as they please. ________ Alan: Arm in arm, we stroll the boulevards of our friendship, painting the world around us.
Unreal Abstracts
I am interested in the relationship between the painting and the viewer. The painting doesn’t exist without you, the viewer. Your opinion matters. Because it’s not about what I painted, it’s about what you see.
Einstein said, “Logic takes you from Point A to Point B. Imagination takes you everywhere.”
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Unreal Abstract 9Mixed media on canvas, 30" x 30", 2014
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Unreal Abstract 21Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 24", 2014
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Unreal Abstract 20Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 24" 2014
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Unreal Abstract 16Mixed Media on Canvas, 18" x 24", 2014
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Unreal Abstract 11Mixed Media on Canvas, 30" x 40", 2014
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Unreal Abstract 10Mixed media on canvas, 30" x 40", 2014
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Unreal Abstract 3Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 24", 2014
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Unreal Abstract 2Mixed media on canvas, 36” x 24”, 2014
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Unreal Abstract 1Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 24", 2014
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Unreal Abstract 7Mixed media on canvas, 30" x 30"2014
Dream City
The mountain village comes full circle in my paintings, where each one of them becomes a unique entity of intimacy and community. The Dream City Village, if you will.
I asked Baltimore writer Jen Michalski to write a meditation about this series. This is what she wrote:
Minas speaks of being influenced by painters Picasso, Braque, Cezanne, and Derain. When I view his work, I am reminded of the Romantic poets Keats, Whitman, Wordsworth, and Shelley, who I have referenced liberally. We are interconnected and trapped by ourselves, closer than ever and simultaneously farther apart. Nature seeps into Minas’ work like an insanity, breaking through cracks and weaving through windows, breaking down all that we have built, like it always does, beckoning us back to its paradise of the mind and soul.
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Dream City Interior 6Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 30"x 40", 2013 --- "We unfurl our feet, our tendrils to the sea. The wind whispers what we remember, that the cities were just the pillars, the beacons of our dreams."
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Dream City Interior 1Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 36"x 48", 2013 --- "My blue room of clipped words/birds. In the house, a million window mirrors."
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Dream City Interior 5Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 36"x 24", 2013 --- "If you leave, you will slip away, neatly in the grey world, the rain world, neat as a drink, always a part of its unending motion."
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Dream City 11Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 36"x 48",2013 --- We dream dormant while time feasts. Its leaves climb our walls, returning our brick to crumble, scattering our mortar to dust. Its life after life, our afterlife
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Dream City Interior 2Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 30"x 40", 2013 --- "Inside your forests, the world is so small, so far. An open-ended invitation; my answer before the question".
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Dream City 1Inks and Acrylics on canvas, , 30"x 30", 2013 --- "Who knows where we sleep? Who knows what we dream? "
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Dream City Interior 3Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 30"x40", 2013 --- "This is not a sleep dream. This is the dream that I open our eyes to. You are the dream to which I open my eyes. You grow inside; the warmth of you keeps me awake; the pulse of you keeps me alive."
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Dream City 5Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 30"x 30", 2013 --- "Little engines, we hum, blinking eye windows. We stoke our room fires. We gnash our building teeth. We dream awake. Awake, we dream."
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Dream City 6Dream City 6, 2013. Mixed media on canvas, 30"x 30".
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Dream City 7Dream City 7, 2013. Mixed media on canvas, 30" x 30".
Distant Relatives
I needed a change after painting on canvas for the last four years. In this case, the mask was my tool for impersonating a sculptor and re-working all the cardboard boxes that came through my business.
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BacchusMixed media on cardboard, 18" x 11", 2009
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PeggyMixed media on cardboard, 20" x 12", 2009
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RalphMixed media on cardboard, 19" x 13", 2009
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BarbaraMixed media on cardboard, 16" x 12", 2013
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MickeyMixed media on cardboard, 18" x 9", 2009
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CretanMixed media on cardboard, 19" x 10", 2009
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FeliciaMixed media on cardboard, 19" x 11", 2009
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Joe B.Mixed media on cardboard, 27" x 19", 2009
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Acrobatoil on canvas 48 x 36 inches 2005
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NefMixed media on cardboard, 21" x 14", 2009