MORNING TREE I - 1981 - 30" X 36" - Oil on canvas.
One the paintings on display at the 1982 one-person painting show at Vorpal
Gallery in New York. It was reproduced as the invitation to the exhibition. The
subject is in fact the first of four studies of a “Hickey Tree” on a domed hill
adjacent to my home in West Virginia.
This painting has a long and ill-sorted history. After the show closed in New York,
the remaining works were put on exhibit in other spaces at the gallery and some
were shipped to the San Francisco Gallery. Within a year or so I was told that the
painting had been lost or stolen, most likely in shipping. The painting was not
insured, so there was nothing I could do.
After being represented by Vorpal for more than fifteen years, sometime in the
late 1980's, I withdrew from the gallery’s stable of artists. And the Tree painting
was forgotten.
In the spring of 1993, my life partner Steven was nearing death from AIDS. Steven
requested that I scatter his ashes under that Hickory tree. Steven was the first.
Then my dear friend Jack Hepworth made the same request. And then the list of
loved one grew. All requesting that their earthly remains be scattered under the
tree.
Fast forward to 2006 . . . I received a call from Vorpal Gallery. The owner/my
agent was in the middle of divorce suit. His ex-wife was suing for six million
dollars. The owner declared bankruptcy. The call from Vorpal was to inquire if I still
had any work at the Gallery. I said not to my knowledge. An inventory of the entire
gallery /owner’s collection in New York was taken. Six works with my name on
then were found. One of which was the painting of the tree. All six works were
returned to me. The “Morning Tree” now hangs in my home.
Little did I know what this painting would set into motion. Little did I know that
even the title would have a double meaning. Oddly, all of my deceased loved ones
knew of the tree here and had either seen the painting or the reproduction.
Often in the summer friends gather up on the hill and under the Hickory tree to
celebrate and remember our loved ones.
With loving memory,
Robert