Provocation in Black and White is a series of paintings juxtaposing figures, power lines, barbed wire, fences, etc., in arrangements meant to provoke thoughts on humanity in the contemporary world, at times socio-political. The series is ongoing, and as it progresses it becomes more and more focused on reflecting issues pertaining to the new millennium.

In relation to the content, this series is an enormous shift from expressing my inner world, or the world of the fantastical, to expressing views or emotions related to the outer contemporary world.

Visually, the work is the culmination of my evolution as a painter, infused with knowledge acquired from exploring both abstract and surrealist/fantastical modes of expression through many series of paintings: there has been a gradual shift to cleaner lines and less coloration. In this series I am exploring the use of blocks of space, precisely rendered lines, and the overlay of dots and lines to create another layer over the blocks.

The use of black and white, nearly exclusively, stems from a desire for clarity, to impart meaning through the arrangement of figures or things, eschewing color as the messenger for emotions. The shift to a graphic quality in the images is for much the same reason; the reduction to a minimal representation of the figure or thing (in many instances a black or white outline) allows the viewer to focus on the combinations and arrangements of figures and things, thereby allowing a response based on the content rather than sensual beauty.