Night People

Girl With a Glass Horse, 2003, oil on canvas, 18x24 inches

Some people don’t like the glare of the sun. They become active when the moon is out. They seek the cover of the darkness or the thrill of the twilight. Other people stay up at nights searching for answers for their troubles. Wrong decisions or unfortunate circumstances have forced them into a corner. Other people burn the midnight oil pondering over age-old questions about man’s place in this world. They could be people near their death. Yet other people cannot sleep at night because night brings out the strong emotions in their hearts. They worry more, hate more, love more, they feel the loss stronger, the sorrow deeper, the thoughts of revenge sweeter at night than during the daytime. All these people have one thing in common: night and the starry heavens above have great power on them. It stirs their emotions and quickens their heartbeat.

I started the Night People series in 2005 after a few trial paintings on the subject in 2003 and 2004. With this series my purpose is to explore man's character, his emotions and passions, his weaknesses and his darker side. I am looking for a certain mood in the paintings – something that reflects a belief that there is a seed of fate built into a character man is given at his birth, as if the people in the paintings were saying, 'This is what's happening to me. It is my destiny'.

Who are the Night People? Would they include a man who at the end of the day sits in an easy chair and thinks how good his life is? Or a woman who at bedtime feels happy because she had a perfect day? No, they wouldn’t include such people. Instead, my Night People are people who can't sleep because they are in love, who stay up late at night because their friend has passed away, who weep in the early hours of the morning because their life's dream has been crushed. They are also people who cannot resist temptations, who like to walk on the edge, who know in their heart they shouldn't do something but do it anyway.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

Eyewitness, 2004, oil on canvas, 21x28 inches

Inmate I, 2004, oil on canvas, 21x28 inches

Inmate II, 2004, oil on canvas, 21x28 inches

Inmate III, 2004, oil on canvas, 21x28 inches