8. Playground, 2009-2012

With every graduation children leave a certain playground and move on with their lives in the direction of careers. Most of the time they are heading for an unattainable point on the horizon. Of course the influence of parents cannot be overestimated here.

A well-used leather football has been depicted once in each panel of this diptych.

Five red and white circles populate different sectors. Two circles contain red brick wall patterns; one with a small infant and the other shows a baseball player in full action. Centrally located is a square-shaped pig pen with the same football motif. A pink pig, casting a shadow on the pen’s floor, can be seen through a clearing in gray foliage that covers the majority of the canvas and leaves rose-colored shadows on the pig’s skin.

The same football is placed on the ground for a nighttime photo shoot under artificial lighting. Again, several red and white circles are arbitrarily placed across the surface.

Parents frequently want their children to become doctors, lawyers or engineers, but kids have no idea what that means for their everyday lives. Instead of asking children what they would like to become later on, a far better but difficult question is what they would like to know. When a child is given the opportunity to discover its own interests, those interests will serve as a lifelong compass that gradually moves youngsters in the direction their search takes them. They will be highly motivated and focused and will grow up to be very good at what they love to do.