When I shared my drawing of Josh Piccoli, Last Look during the summer of 2016, it seemed to draw quite a bit of reaction from people who had known Josh. The trauma and shock of Josh’s death was still quite recent, and the drawing may have given  people something more substantial to hang onto. I had the chance to interact with many of Josh’s friends. I became familiar with a few of the marines with whom he had served. One of them, Adam Coleman, was even instrumental in having Last Look exhibited in a show of artwork by and about veterans near Syracuse, New York. But, perhaps the most poignant and intense conversation I had was with Josh’s brother Jason.  One of the most significant outcomes was this drawing.

 

I discovered that Jason’s family had suffered even more loss. Jeff is the brother of Jason’s wife. Some 10 years prior Jeff had died at an even younger age than Josh. This was stunning news. Without really knowing what I was getting into I agreed to Jason’s request that I try to produce a drawing of Jeff. I wasn’t sure if any of the available photos would be the kind of thing that would interest me.  Fortunately, the first photo Jason sent me had something I latched onto right away.  

 

Jeff was riding a motorcycle in the shot. In fact, he looks like he is about to enter a race (entry numbers are visible and the arm band on his right arm looks like it might have been race related); but I wanted to eliminate the bike and make it a Figurines drawing.  I thought the clear silhouette outline of the handle bars would be interesting.  There is also a kind of bench pressing quality to his arms that in the visual absence of the bike emphasized this intensely physical relationship to the machine.  The whole composition seemed to suggest a kind of coiled, dynamic energy about to spring forth. It seemed obvious to me from his expression that he seemed very happy and at peace - even in this arm bracing and crouching  position.

 

Last Look is extremely dark; and this may have influenced me to commit more fully to the dark tones of this photo. Josh and Jeff apparently knew one another and were friends. It seemed clear to me that one day these drawings might be displayed in the same room; hence my choice to harmonize the tones. Jeff’s eyes are almost completely in shadow and it seemed clear that any attempt to pick out too much detail was doomed to fail. So I embraced the gestural. Little details like the puckering around the pants pocket and the chaos of the knuckles appeal to me; but what I think I liked most was the way that the drape of the tee shirt is visible even in the near black values. Negative space has always been a feature of the Figurines series, but there is something particularly intense about the way that negative space has crept into Jeff’s grip as a kind of exclave. Usually the space contains the figure.  Here the figure is containing some of the space.