Shoe Series

How does an artist choose a topic? This always intrigues a viewer... The big question: WHY? What would motivate someone to select a subject? In the case of the "Shoe Series" this again is a subject which continues to be part of the autobiographical nature of my work. My dad was a painting contractor who had to wear construction boots and shoes every day of his life. He stepped in all sorts of things from snow, mud, benzine, paint and god knows whatever else... Consequently on the weekends he would always like to get dressed and "feel like a person". While other white collar executives settled back into their "sweats", jeans, and tennis shoes, dad always looked like he was ready for an exclusive lunch somewhere on Saturdays and Sundays... Anyway, my dad had over 100 pairs of shoes, most never worn... He liked going into a store while wearing his dirty overalls and pulling out wads of money and buying the shoe of his choice in every color. Each shoe was kept in its rightful box, shoe trees protecting its shape and shoe covers to keep them fresh. A ten year old shoe could look brand new. I started to photograph his collection of shoes and then one day I showed this series to the display director at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York... He had to have them for the store... So these shoes became very important symbols for many people... The shoes one wears describes a good portion of their personality.

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