My oil painting series, “A Dialogue With Michelangelo,” juxtaposes Michelangelo’s frescoed scenes from the Sistine Chapel against various wild animals to express my homage to that supreme artist and my concern for vulnerable and vanishing species. Michelangelo’s exquisite figures of Prophets of the Old Testament and Sibyls (female prophets) of the Classical World inspire me in their vibrantly colored drapery, athletic physiques, and dynamic gestures. I have felt an affinity for Michelangelo’s masterpieces throughout my career, and my recent thrilling trips to Italy and the Vatican Museum have deepened my immersive study of his paintings and my passion for exploring a virtual dialog with him in my own work. My appreciation of both the formal qualities and the evocative imagery of these prophetic figures leads me to intuitive reflections and contrasts between them and the forms of animals. This grows out of my previous series of oil paintings that melded dynamic depictions of animals with dancers and (later) with abstraction, generally emphasizing psychological themes and apprehension for the fate of animal species.

My selection of the animal hinges on semi-conscious resonances in painterly qualities, such as form, color, texture, or expression, and in an imaginative narrative that occurs spontaneously to me. Consequently, I view these prophets in my compositions as warning of animals in peril and threats to the earth. I mostly paint endangered species—for example, the Ring-Tailed Lemur—and other animals whose populations are struggling from loss of habitat and poaching—for example, Brown-throated Sloths. Occasionally, I paint an animal, like the Trumpeter Swan, with an increasing or stable population, as a symbol of healing and hope. My devotion to wild animals evolved from an early age, observing animal behavior with my field-biologist parents and caring for transitory pets, such as owls and penguins. In each painting, human to animal interaction may occur, often with a graceful expression of compassion, or they remain in abstruse proximity; some prophets offer protection.

In my painting “Facepalm,” I loosely render the rare timber rattlesnake with an ill-fated figure from Michelangelo’s Last Judgement, as a cathartic relief to my horror of the Coronavirus pandemic and the US Administration. As officials from the WWF, UN, and WHO recently wrote, outbreaks like COVID-19 are “manifestations of our dangerously unbalanced relationship with nature.” This facepalm echoes that of Dr. Fauci at a press conference earlier this year and that of our emotionally distressed reactions to these surreal and risky times. The phantom hand grips, and the venomous snake coils, adding threat to the unknown.

I enjoy creating these otherworldly images in order not only to luxuriate in Michelangelo’s mastery and the enchantment of the human and animal forms, but also to articulate my care for the natural world.