The Naked Photographer

Here's a few paintings from an old series I've always thought of as The Naked Photographer. These come from 1996. I'm able to date them from the mural that appears behind one of the figures. It's from that downtown restaurant I was paid to embellish with my work, a series of murals based on Greek vase paintings. The young man, pictured in the fifth portrait down, was a pizza cook at the time. He was from Jalisco, and the owner of the restaurant consulted him repeatedly on the installation of the ovens.






My good friend Max told me of going to dinner at a house in Philadelphia, belonging to a former co-worker from Printed Matter Inc., in a surprisingly formal dining room, and encountering these two old paintings I made of myself and Rogelio at opposite sides of the room facing each other in matching gilt frames. I believe this kind woman paid ten times more for their framing than she did for the portraits. This was not the fate I had envisioned for them, but I can't say that I'm disappointed.