A page of Koi paintings from the early ’70s until the late ’80s is being prepared for those who are interested in this period of my work. I am not saying I will never paint another Koi painting, just not at present with all the other projects, including my musical explorations, taking my attention.I started painting Koi ‘way before most people ever noticed them sometime in the late ‘70’s. Of course, the Japanese were very keen on the prize fish for nearly a century before, but I mean the mainstream US was unaware that these pet fish were not goldfish, but another entirely separate family. Most times, I would be asked “You doin’ another one of those goldfish paintings???? and I would simply cringe. But of course, I wasn’t painting them for the fancy fish afficainados, either. I was mostly interested in representing the water around them; the shifting shadows and reflections and the fish sliding out of the depths. Koi are like unknown, but sentient, creatures, just looking in on us out of curiosity. (My initial inspiration was Laurie Anderson’s performance of “Kokoku??? from Mister Heartbreak.) (read the words here)
Koi painting circa 1982
I had to get past the tendency of people to refer to these beautiful creatures as ‘goldfish’ for years, but almost weekly now I hear people asking about ‘koi’ in some kind of garden or pond discussion.
