growing artist
Michael Betzold talking about Kevorkian's paintings in his book, "Appointment with Doctor Death."
Kevorkian had created 18 different paintings and requested, after he finished painting, they be sent to him, however, all 18 were lost in Australia and never found again. Since then, Kevorkian has created eight new paintings in which six have been printed to be in the form of photographs.
Very Still Life
Kevorkian's description on, "Very Still Life"
"The message here, though somewhat capricious, nebulous and indefinable, is clearly underscored by intense feeling. Brilliant colors highlight the melancholoy age-old balance between the warmth of life and the iciness of death, spiced with the sardonic humor of irony. The disquieting mood portends inescapable doom for the frail symbol of individual life and seemingly callous extinction of its evanescent aura. The age-old balance is certainly skewed"
~Jack Kevorkian
Brotherhood
Kevorkian's description on, "Brotherhood."
"Every person is physically a part of the fabric called humanity, which is --unilaterally-- bedizened with all kinds of nobel epithets and arbitrary virtues. On the contrary, the pervading spirit is, and always was, a miasma of distrust and suspicion, periodically accentuated by hate and outright mayhem and murder. Despite effusive lip service to sublime ideals, humanity's awe is lavished on its real god, Satan, whose suzerainty and leering confidence are sustained by his loyal subjects throughout the world --in Bosnia, Somalia, Ireland, India, the Middle East, Haiti, Cuba, Tibet, South Africa -- and Waco."
~Jack Kevorkian
~Jack Kevorkian
Fever
Kevorkian's description on, "Fever"
"This is one of an original series of paintings (now lost) concerning various medical signs and symptoms. It depicts the great discomfort of intense bodily heat. The inferno is internal; and in some tragic cases even the will to live is charred."
~Jack Kevorkian
For He Is Raised
Kevorkian's description on, "For He Is Raised"
"The annual resurrection by dumb bunnies of a pathetic, despairing, almost scorned image of the purported divinity is hardly noticeable amid the tawdry paraphernalia of irresistible paganism at its vernal orgy. It is a spectacle badly conceived, badly manipulated, and superbly desecrated by those hare-brained disciples of Mammon, who, with armfuls of brilliant multi-colored eggs and gleeful joy, framed in parade-stopping millinery, might, in a rare pseudo-pious mood briefly condescend to acknowledge some sort of disquieting mystery pervading it all. Such is the perfunctory Easter of modern western society which seems to have lost appreciation for anachronisms like rods and staffs and angels and lambs."
~Jack Kevorkian
Nearer My God To Thee
Kevorkian's description on "Nearer My God To Thee"
"This depicts how most human beings feel about dying -- at least about their own deaths. Despite the solace of hypocritical religiosity and its seductive promise of an after-life of heavenly bliss. Most of us will do anything to thwart the inevitable victory of biological death. We contemplate and face it with great apprehension, profound fear, and terror. Sparing no financial or physical sacrifice, pleading wantonly and unashamedly, clutching any hope of salvation through medicine or prayer. How forbidding that dark abyss! How stupendous the yearning to dodge its gaping orifice. How inexorable the engulfment. Yet, below are the disintegrating hulks of those who have gone before; they have made the insensible transition and wonder what the fuss is all about. After all, how excruciating can nothingness be?"
~Jack Kevorkian
~Jack Kevorkian
Ann Kuffler (owner of art gallery) heard Kevorkian say that he no longer likes his paintings, and she later shares that with the public.
