New York To Rome

I’ve  noticed that I can be driving down a sun dappled highway in my part of Connecticut and the light of a particular location will remind me of a moment from  my distant past, maybe a moment playing outdoors at my grandparents’ home. This memory was triggered by a quality imbedded in the present moment, what neuroscientists call the present “qualia”.  Both my contemporary observation and my memory are conflating in my mind. I think of this odd conflation of past and present as a good start for a painting.  After all, paintings can be strongly ambiguous fields offering several different readings from the same material.  In my painting “New York to Rome” I have combined two different places, a scene in New York’s Grand Central Station with a view  through an archway in Rome’s Coliseum. Both buildings have Roman architectural space and share other qualities. I decided to merge or blend the two spaces, the two momentary experiences into one.