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!

Deadly Surprise

Original Painting - Acrylic on canvas 20x16

Here is number nine in my "Sin, sex, and cigarettes" series, my tribute to the lurid pulp magazine covers and film noir genre. Nothing puts a damper on a romantic interlude like a loaded gun pointed at your cheatin' heart. As you can see, our leading man is a little slow on the draw in more ways than one. You can tell by the fact that she already has her dress off and he's still wearing his hat and coat! Available from the artist $950.00

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