Honored to be at Art Basel Hong Kong  with Froggy Went a Courtin’, at the Karma booth!

This image is a still from the very first time Kermit was in a bike, The Muppets Valentine Show, which aired on Jan. 30, 1974. I was 8 and the country was in a different place with Henson and the Muppets moving culture forward.

He appeared on The Tonight Show a couple of weeks before, along with Jack Benny and the voice of Bugs Bunny and more Mel Blanc, and while much of their humor was fine, some was racist and misogynistic, and along with some other dated acts and jokes, Jim Henson in this midst was a revelation, like Cézanne and Munch in 1900 or Elvis in 1954. Along with Muppet cohort Dave Goelz he performed an avant garde piece that was psychologically compelling, and then with Kermit at Johnny’s side performed “It’s Not Easy Being Green” perhaps for the first time for adult audiences. Carson and the rest were captivated, and Benny remarked “This little louse is the hit of the show”-which he clearly was, transcending the moment in time with a sublime act that has relevance even today, embracing and giving empathy and compassion to otherness of all kinds.

 The Special was the first of two pilots that became The Muppet Show-“the most popular television entertainment now being produced on earth,” changing the world culturally through its warmth and humor espousing love and acceptance for all people. Kermit is still alive today along with the rest of the characters, like this first magic moment where like Pinocchio the puppet felt alive (“I’ve Got No Strings”!), he lives beyond his creator and time, like any masterpiece of cultural production.

 In this series of Kermit on the Bike series I’m painting for the fairs, Kermit is biking around the world as I’m pedaling as hard as I can towards my Nov. 11 show at Karma LA, like Kermit biking to Hollywood to make millions of people happy in the original Muppet Movie. The palette of this work reminds me of Van Gogh, and in this sequence where Kermit was on his way to espouse his love to Muppet character Miss Mousey, Van Gogh is as bringing the spirit of love to the world as I’m trying to do with this work. This image is a still from the very first time Kermit was in a bike, The Muppets Valentine Show, which aired on Jan. 30, 1974. I was 8 and the country was in a different place with Henson and the Muppets moving culture forward. He appeared on The Tonight Show a couple of weeks before, along with Jack Benny and the voice of Bugs Bunny and more Mel Blanc, and while much of their humor was fine, some was racist and misogynistic, and along with some other dated acts and jokes, Jim Henson in this midst was a revelation, like Cézanne and Munch in 1900 or Elvis in 1954. Along with Muppet cohort Dave Goelz he performed an avant garde piece that was psychologically compelling, and then with Kermit at Johnny’s side performed “It’s Not Easy Being Green” perhaps for the first time for adult audiences. Carson and the rest were captivated, and Benny remarked “This little louse is the hit of the show”-which he clearly was, transcending the moment in time with a sublime act that has relevance even today, embracing and giving empathy and compassion to otherness of all kinds. The Special was the first of two pilots that became The Muppet Show-“the most popular television entertainment now being produced on earth,” changing the world culturally through its warmth and humor espousing love and acceptance for all people.

Kermit is still alive today along with the rest of the characters, like this first magic moment where like Pinocchio the puppet felt alive (“I’ve Got No Strings”!), he lives beyond his creator and time, like any masterpiece of cultural production. In this series of Kermit on the Bike series I’m painting for the fairs, Kermit is biking around the world as I’m pedaling as hard as I can towards my Nov. 11 show at Karma LA, like Kermit biking to Hollywood to make millions of people happy in the original Muppet Movie.

The palette of this work reminds me of Van Gogh, and in this sequence where Kermit was on his way to espouse his love to Muppet character Miss Mousey, Van Gogh is as bringing the spirit of love to the world as I’m trying to do with this work.