"for annie: time to demise", pastel on paper, 1988.
another of the recently rediscovered pastels from the 'moon tigers' period - and one of those gut-wrenching favorites ...
my cousin [through my 1st marriage] - was a beautiful, vivacious, and talented advertising artist who lived in San Francisco and Santa Monica during the late 70's and early 80's after a successful career in NYC - she was also responsible for introducing me to California - the untrodden and funkier side ...
Annie Sinclair was a gift in my life - and showed me how small the world gets when you stay true to your dreams and work hard, at a time in my career when i was standing at the base of the mountain ... there was also a darker side that her accomplishments never seemed to brighten - an impermanence and impetuousness that concerned me ... so i was shocked, but not surprised, when i heard of her demise from an auto accident off the cliffs of the Pacific Coast Highway ... it depressed me and launched a period of existential reaction and inquiry ... this pastel was only the beginning ...
the piece began by notating excerpts from an E.A.Poe poem by the same name - something i memorized years earlier - and though i'm not a big Poe fan, it stuck with me ...
For Annie - E.A.Poe, 1849
"Thank Heaven! the crisis
the danger is past,
and the lingering illness
is over at last -
And the fever called 'living'
is conquered at last ..."
whenever i'm in CA, being by the santa monica and venice ocean has always been a daily activity - and in that routine, i always pass one of the most distinguished 1930's bungalows along the walk - Annie's, at lifeguard station 23 - and we still talk ...
