Guin Library

This painting's title comes from a musical term which describes a musical piece intended for an instrument, usually to show off technique. It comes from Toccare, to touch in Italian, as opposed to Cantore, to sing. Of course paintings are made by touching the brush or knife to the surface, which is evident in this painting. Here are two similar shapes, one curling up at the end and tilted in space and the other, just off a true vertical, which is slightly dimensional looking. They echo each other and are surrounded by a painterly swimming background like the accompaniment for two themes.

Missing Espresso Roma is about missing my favorite coffee shop. When you live in East London, the nearest good coffee is three hours away by train, in Paris.

Be Careful What You Wish For is self explanatory.

Pupetta is a straight portrait of Pupetta Maresca, a modern day Medici princess, the head of the Mafia in Naples.

To a great extent, this drawing was intended to remind us of our mortality and of the many natural and man-made disasters that pose a threat to human life and society. Dog's Feast represents the defeat of humanity.

This pack of wild dogs was, for me, a metaphor for the HIV pandemic, which was out of control and running wild. The drawing was also inspired by several references to the behavior of dogs during the years when the Black Plague ravaged Europe.

The image of death's embrace has many prototypes in art history, particularly in relationship to the Black Plague in Europe. I wanted this same visual theme to help us confront the grim realities of the AIDS pandemic in the modern world.