Back Alley Justice

Original Painting - Acrylic on canvas 20x16

The tenth painting in my "Sin, sex, and cigarettes" series features a sinister, armed man silhouetted by harsh lights in a wet and foggy alley. I don't know if there was ever a pulp novel with this title, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was. Available from the artist $950.00

I have been asked why I have chosen to create these paintings as a tribute to the lurid pulp covers of the past. I can remember that as a boy I would take the bus to downtown Milwaukee for a day at the public museum and library. Afterwards I would go to the old bookstore on Wisconsin Avenue. The musty smelling basement level was filled with pulp magazines, paperbacks, and comic books all at half off the cover price. Then I realized that these magazines were priced at .10 cents to .75 cents apiece before the discount! I loaded up on Weird Tales, science fiction, Southsea Adventures, True Detective, Amazing Stories and comics. The tantalizing element of the cover art was the mystery of the unexplained dramatic action and exotic locations portrayed, even though the stories rarely lived up to my high expectations. The melodramatic covers of pulp magazines helped influence and shape my art. I want these paintings to function as illustrations for unwritten stories. Back then, the cover art and captions of the pulps captured my imagination and fired my sense of wonder and adventure!

Bad Girl

Original Painting - Acrylic on canvas 16x12

This is number eight in the "Sin, Sex, and cigarette" series, my tribute to the lurid pulp magazine covers and film noir genre. The title comes from the old saying "good girls go to heaven ...but bad girls go everywhere." The background is typical of the paperback covers of the time, showing a slice of the seedy part of the big city. Available from the artist $800.00

.38 Special

Original Painting - Acrylic on Canvas 16x12

Lucky number seven in the "Sin, Sex and Cigarettes" series has arrived. This lethal lady is armed and patiently awaiting the arrival of someone. I wouldn't want to be that guy. $800.00

Red Peril

Original Painting - Acrylic on canvas 16x12

This is the sixth painting in my "Sin, Sex, and Cigarettes" series, my tribute to the lurid pulp magazine covers and film noir. All the essential elements are here ...from the gun, cleavage, dramatic lighting, to the cigarette dangling from her bright red lips. $800.00

Face of Fear

Original Painting - Acrylic on canvas 12x16

What is she afraid of, giant mutated insects, creatures from outer space or just plain murderers ...who knows? Another tribute to the pulps and B movies has emerged from my brush! These are a lot of fun to paint and I hope that others enjoy them also. $800.00

Man in the Shadows

Original Painting - Acrylic on canvas 16x12

Another addition to my "Sin, sex and cigarettes" series. A hardboiled private eye reaches for his gun in this nod to the cover art of the pulp detective magazines. $800.00

"He was tired of the run-a-round and this alley was as good as anywhere for a bloody showdown!"