TheMe Park
Acrylic on canvas with mask
45” x 72”
1988
TheMe Park was created as part of the “Initial View” series during the fall of 1987 through the summer of 1988. This series was shown in part at the Center for Contemporary Art in Chicago, January 1989. The Initial View series was autobiographical in nature using my initials JME as the compositional construct that contained personal data, tangible info and creative observations.
TheMe Park deals thematically with childhood and displacement. The underlying white layers include textual abbreviations of places I lived as a child and iconic forms of travel that symbolically is equated with home. There is a sense of yearning placated by an overall impression of melancholia; castles equated with smoke stacks. The palette is muted, derived from my skin tone, hair color and other bodily associations to create a self-portrait both inside and out. The mask functions to cover or disguise the content but also to point to a child’s hopes and dreams toward the future. TheMe Park was painted on 14th street near Union Station, New York City in the summer of 1988.