Friday, September 29, 2006

Landscape


melandscapesm
Originally uploaded by Charles Hankin.
This past weekend I was in Michigan to help a friend move some furniture. I wish I had the time to paint this.

Monday, September 18, 2006

self portrait


self portrait
Originally uploaded by Charles Hankin.
Portrait commissions accepted. Contact for information.

mary portrait


maryportrait
Originally uploaded by Charles Hankin.
I model in clay and cast in plaster and bronze.

stan bronze


stanbronze
Originally uploaded by Charles Hankin.
I make portraits.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Rocky Sculpture

Why the ROCKY SCULPTURE has a place on the Parkway. I haven't seen the new site yet but I feel that Philadelphia made the right choice placing it there. Rocky is a cultural icon and it is a well made sculpture so it deserves to be seen by the public. It may not be a cutting edge work of art. It may not be even the best sculpted statue. It belongs there because Philadelphia has no cultural standards. All that matters is the greedy notion that the city will be better off if they can attract as many visitors as possible. The reason: making art add to the profit of the business's that sell to tourists. Money is the prime reason for moving the Barnes Foundation and for all that happens in Philadelphia. Rocky, the icon of bad movie making, is all about getting the most out of the same old story.

Monday, September 11, 2006

September 11, 2006

On this day of remembrance for those murdered five years ago I think of my own losses. How else can I relate to an event of such enormous consequence? The television was my view of what happened to those poor souls that we all mourn. I watched with millions their deaths. I felt detached, as only Americans can, transfixed by what I was seeing.

This reminded me of the first national TV event I saw, the killing and funeral of John F. Kennedy. The medium of broadcast has shaped the feelings we all share.

I can only feel the sudden loss and hurt that happened to me when my wife was killed in an auto accident. Her death was just as sudden and wrong. She was killed, not by a terrorist, but rather by a greedy American. My anger goes not to the faceless foreigners who highjacked those planes but to those who failed to repair their truck and keep it safe. My wife paid with her life because of their greed. There was no National mourning or war on greed. There was no Commission to look into truck safty. There was no support group for my son or myself.

Like millions of Americans I greive for those lost. I also greive for those who have died without the national spotlight on them.