Circus Memories

This series was part of a group show, Evocation Made Real, at WORKS Gallery San Jose, 2019

Only a Poster 8X8 Acrylic on canvas

Anticipation 16X20 Acrylic on canvas

Juggler 16X20 Acrylic on canvas

Flying Trapeze 10X30

Mixed Media on canvas

Recollections may appear randomly, unheralded, unforeseen, and sometimes unbidden. Happy memories bring us joy and comfort and we retrieve them as we are able.

Memory is not reliable but emerges from the mind transformed by time and emotions.

Both our recollections and the unconscious are essential to how we approach the world, demonstrating the lasting power of stored images.

I recall going as a young child with my father to the circus. Dad must have loved the circus as a child himself -- as we went several times. We loved the people, the music, the cotton candy and popcorn, the magic and the sheer spectacle.

Fire Eater 10X30

Acrylic on canvas

Not Quite Caged 16X20

Acrylic on canvas

I have several recollections of these enthralling adventures, some of which have emerged as abstract images.

Opinion has changed over time about the appropriateness of displaying animals for the circus, but the extravaganza of aerialists, tigers, clowns, and magic remain.