About forty years ago my Father, a holocaust survivor, asked me to do a painting of what he experienced during that time. I responded by saying that I couldn't describe in a painting the horror of that period. But as time passed I began to do some sketches with the idea that my Father placed in my mind and happened onto what I named the Burden Figure series.

 

These shrouded figures represent in a very simple but profound way many emotions from fear to undeniable agony. I tried placing the figures in various surroundings and changing the tone and coloration to see if the overall character, feeling and emotion all remained. Proof of this happened in the most unexpected way during an exhibition of the paintings. Visitors arrived at a show, on a sunny day in May, in good spirits. They departed the show, weeping.

 

The figures also began to resemble larger stones, similar to the stones found in stone circles. Some of the paintings have a plan of a particular stone circle as well as circles that have burial mounds. It was a very emotional time for me in bringing out the feelings that I had - in interpreting the many stories that my Father and Mother conveyed to me. Although my parents are no longer alive, I feel that these paintings and sculptures are a reminder, of the universal acknowledgement of the horrific pain suffered in the ghettos and concentration camps during World War II.

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As one patron said, every home should have one burden figure painting to be reminded of the pain suffered, what humans can inflict on each other.