My Ostraka:  History II: xiv  

70 x 140 inches

Nefertiti has haunted me since childhood-seeing a replica in our best neighbor's house in Chicago.  David Salle made a reference to this stunning masterpiece. Salle wrote about Alex Katz in March T & C. Katz apparently started his list of favorite artists with "jackson Pollock and the guy who made Nefertiti" (who was court sculptor Tutmose.

I lost count of how many paintings of mine use her image and I do not tire of attempting to replicate her stunning beauty.  This is a large sumi ink and gouache painting also done in my Cincinnati studio.  It measures 7o x 140 inches.
The studio was mercilessly cold in winter, since I was the only tenant other than my son's rock band that practiced there.  The isolation and lonliness probably fueled lots of "what ifs?" such as positioning the seductive face of Nefertiti between two seductive archaic Greek vase designs.

Special thanks to Owen Jones's 'Grammar of Ornament,' a book which has been in my collection since graduate school.  He set me on a rich path of discovery of ancient designs and symbols.