THE DISPLAY SERIES

"No one sleeps less than the man who doesn't dream"

(Lopez-Espina, 2013)

The Display series was started in the late seventies and is the one responsible for bringing national and international acclaim to my work. People through time have labeled it as photorealism or hyper-realism, I’m more inclined to call it photo-surrealism.   Depending on size and intricacy, each painting took from six months to a year to complete.    They were painstakingly executed with acrylic paints applied with airbrush and a tiny ‘000’ sable brush. I was never keen on the semi-blurry edges normally found on most airbrush work, which at close range looks undefined. I preferred distinct edges wherever necessary and this tighter technique accomplished that goal. The ‘000’ sable brush took care of the fine details, such as hairs on an arm, fine blades of grass, eyelashes, toe nails, etc.  

I never liked to explain my work, preferring instead for folks to draw their own interpretations of the meaning. In lieu of that fact, it’s interesting and surprising the unimaginable significances people come up with. Below are the only remaining paintings from the Display series. As occurred with the Hard-Edge archives, my photo records of all sold paintings got ruined. I’m including a photo of a painting found in a file drawer—I have identified it as sold.