Paintings – FENTONARTS

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Expulsion from Paradise The world is given a task to take care of each other and take care of the planet. We are doing a pretty lousy job of both.
If the world is our Garden of Eden, then we are expelling ourselves by our behavior. This painting pays homage to Benjamin West. Description
32" x "48 oil on birch panel 2024
Humans in the Garden of Eden
The fusion of divine creation and evolutionary science in a triptych painting using contemporary figures to help us see ourselves at the beginning of human existence. Land, sky, and water are interchangeable depending on their relationships to the figures. The Garden of Eden is the planet Earth.

Left: An African indigenous couple is blended in a lush grassy landscape representing the first human ancestors.

Center: Semi-transparent figures mingle with monkeys, signaling the gradual emergence of humans from other primates.

Right: Adam and Eve appear in this panel honoring Lucas Cranach the Elder, a 16th-century Renaissance painter. A large monkey occupies the center position, bridging the gap between mythological and biological origins. Throughout the triptych, red cardinals recur as symbols of hope and transformation, linking the panels into a unified narrative.
Description
Triptych 43"x 99" oil on birch panel 2023
Dancing in the Garden of Eden with Lilith Contemporary dancers, both dressed and nude, appear in the primal Garden of Eden where humans made their first appearance. Built into the image are hints of the Biblical account. Lilith is one of them. The Bible says that God made both man and woman. A few paragraphs later, the Bible states that God made Eve from Adam’s rib. Commentary from rabbis postulates that there were two women. Lilith, Adam's first wife, was too independent to get along with Adam and was considered by many to be a witch. The women’s movement considered Lilith to be a role model for the liberation of women. Fenton presents both views. Description
34" x 26.5" oil on birch panel 2021
Agents of Manipulators It is true parents manipulate their children’s behavior for good and bad reasons with the mythological characters depicted. The real reason for this painting is that the artist believes there has never been a serious painting using these characters. When was the last time you saw a serious painting of Santa Claus or the Boogieman? Fenton chose to try it for himself. Description
23.5" x 33.5" oil on birch panel 2021
Convergence of the Mount Rushmore Presidents The four presidents whose images make up Mount Rushmore were very distinct individuals with very different motives, accomplishments, and personalities. Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Roosevelt, whose presidencies altered the course of history, blend together by the same history into some sort of historical soup of Americana. Each portrait is combined in Fenton’s painting with the other three presidents, leaving a general sense of the individual president depicted. Description
33" x 28" oil on birch panel 2021
Them vs. Us Divisions between Them and Us have long been sources of destruction, divided by nationality, ethnicity, religion, language, skin color, and politics. Understanding we are both Them and Us may lead to a more civilized society. As Albert Einstein said, 'Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of Mankind.'

Fenton's composition draws from Paolo Uccello’s The Battle of San Romano and Edouard Detaille’s Vive L'Empereur, depicting warriors in fantastic headgear. Fenton combines images like a napalm-burned Vietnamese girl and a black man attacked with an American flag to create new meanings.

Inspired by the political climate of building walls, Fenton contrasts this with Emma Lazarus’s welcoming poem on the Statue of Liberty. He hopes his painting will show that merging Them and Us into We leads to a more just, tolerant, and benevolent world. Description
35.5” x 62” oil on birch panel 2020
Judith and Holofernes The apocryphal story of Judith and Holofernes accounts how the beautiful Jewish widow is invited into the tent of Holofernes, an Assyrian general preparing an attack on the Jewish town of Bethulia. She decapitates the general, who is in a drunken sleep, and consequently saves her town, sending the Assyrians fleeing. Many Renaissance and Baroque artists painted Judith and Holofernes, including Cranach the Elder, Mantegna, Caravaggio, and the iconic version by Artemisia Gentileschi. Contemporary artists painted the highly dramatic story as well, including Gustav Klimt and Kehinde Wiley, who painted a black Judith and a white Holofernes. Fenton’s version brings the story into contemporary times and flips the storyline to make Judith a senior citizen and Holofernes an Adonis-like young man, leaving the viewer to contemplate the psychological reasons for themselves. Description
18” x 15.5” oil on birch panel 2020
The Universe Was Made For Me; I Am Nothing But Dust And Ashes An 18th-century Polish rabbi, Simcha Bunim, wrote, “For my sake the world was created; I am nothing but dust and ashes.” The artist, contemplating the rabbi's remarks, came to the conclusion that his words were extraordinarily profound. This dichotomy allows people to do great things and still be altruistic to their fellow human beings. Balance was the key which allows one to go through life with as few regrets as possible and still be a decent human being. In his painting, Fenton has Napoleon crowning himself Emperor of France while simultaneously seeing Somalian children dissolving into dust and ashes. Fenton portrays himself in double portraits, depicting the juxtaposition of extremes. Description
22.5” x 31” oil on birch panel 2018
Hogarth’s People Florida friends were enjoying their drinks at a pool party. Fenton could not help but notice the similarity of the folks imbibing to William Hogarth’s third painting in the series “The Rake’s Progress.” The placement of Hogarth’s scathing depiction of Thomas Rakewell as he squanders his inheritance was humorously superimposed on the drinking Floridians, creating a curious relationship between the eighteenth-century folks and the frolicking Floridians. Description
30” x 36” oil on birch panel 2018
David Bathsheba and Uriah Lust Adultery and Murder David spies Bathsheba bathing in the nude on a rooftop. He lusts after her and has his way. She gets pregnant. Bathsheba has a husband, Uriah, who serves in David's army. Ultimately, David sends Uriah to the front lines in battle and has the rest of the troops pull away, causing Uriah's death. The artist sees this Biblical story as moral issues that are very contemporary and worthy of contemplation. Description
18" x 7.5", 18" x 24" oil on birch panel 2016
Who by Water, Who by Fire... The concept of this painting came from a 1200-year-old prayer which suggests who will live and who will die, and those that die before their time succumb to a litany of possible deaths. The prayer ultimately suggests that repentance, prayer, and charity will temper the severe decree. The prayer started to resonate with the artist when he faced his own mortality and thought, Who by Fire, Who by Water, and Who by Thoracic Aneurism. Description
31.75" x 41.5" oil on birch panel 2015
My Conversation with Watteau Fenton has a conversation with Watteau while the characters carry on their own conversation. In fact, two conversations, one visual and the other verbal, take place. Watteau used his friends as models for the stock theatrical characters in the painting Commedia dell'Arte, as did Fenton. Description
26.5" x 31.5" oil on birch panel 2014
Ezekiel's Vision A contemporary representation of Ezekiel's vision, this painting reimagines the ancient prophetic imagery within a modern context. Ezekiel's vision, as described in the Bible, includes a divine chariot composed of four living creatures, each with four faces and four wings, moving in perfect unison. Above them is a throne of sapphire with a figure like a man, radiating brilliance, symbolizing the glory of God.

Read Ezekiel's Vision Ezekiel 37:1-14.
Description
31" round oil on birch panel 2014
Larry and Carl A fisherman holding his catch is a ubiquitous photographic image. Fenton chose to paint the subject to create something unique from the most banal of images. His use of metal leaf suggests something regal or religious . . . or possibly both. Using trompe l’oeil, Fenton paints taped negative photographs of fishermen as if he were painting from those negatives. Description
24" x 60" oil and oxidized silver leaf on birch panel 2013
Lap Dance at Portobello's A slightly inebriated woman leaves her embarrassed husband to dance with a young wounded vet in a wheelchair at a Florida coastal restaurant, while the artist irritates another husband peeved that the artist is taking photographs of his wife. Description
24.25" x 60" oil on birch panel 2012
Dayenu The Passover Seder is the retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. The Seder (the order) provided the inspiration for this painting. Description
39.5" x 69.5" oil on birch panel 2011
Diana A portrait of Fenton’s wife, Diana, soon after retiring from her position as a policy planner for New York State Children and Family Services. Description
20.75" x 30.25" oil on birch panel 2011
After Goya: Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: This painting requires a little history. In 1797, Goya began a series of prints, Capriccios, in which he was critical of Spanish culture, avarice, greed, and the political climate that fostered it. Goya believed reason was asleep, and Fenton believes we too are asleep. Many of us are so involved in our little worlds that we fail to see all the problems that are descending upon us en masse. We are not talking to our enemies while conducting war and producing still more enemies; we are giving our freewheeling, well-greased economic machine a blind eye and a blank check; our powerhouse auto industry is producing energy-inefficient cars that are increasingly unwanted; we are damaging our environment by ignoring global warming; and we are ignoring the needs of the medically uninsured, contributing to skyrocketing medical costs. All the while, North Korea is building and testing nuclear weapons, and Iran is doing the same and threatening Israel. In Fenton’s painting, most of the figures are self-absorbed in their own world, with the exception of the little girl (Fenton’s granddaughter Leila), who is peeping around the corner. The little girl is in the process of expanding her world, and her image suggests that hope is around the corner when the predator birds are descending. Her awareness is the inspiration for this painting and our hope around the corner as well. Description
25" x 64" oil on birch panel 2009
Esau and Ishmael, Morning Evening Traveling in Jordon Fenton stopped to view the fantastic desert landscape. Two Bedouin also stopped for a cigarette break. Fenton was drawn in by the timelessness of the scene. Except for cigarettes, wristwatch, and power lines in the background, this same scene could have been found centuries earlier. Description
24" x 60" oil on birch panel 2008
Gilgulim -Night Sale Fenton has always admired Rembrandt’s Night Watch but felt that the elegantly dressed soldiers were less militaristic than one would expect. Perhaps the well-dressed soldiers would feel more comfortable shopping at J.Crew than guarding the gates of Amsterdam. Gilgul transmigrates them into the busiest shopping days at J. Crew. Description
36" x 48" oil on birch panel 2007
Gilgulim Reunion and Fugue at Poussin Beach Through the Kabalistic concept of Gilgul (im pl), which is the transmigration of souls through time, Fenton adapts Nicolas Poussin’s Rape of the Sabine Women and weaves it through a banal scene at Jones Beach. Fenton creates high drama just under the surface of an ordinary beach scene or lurking myth interacting with absolute reality. This fugue, with its psychological and musical meanings, becomes the focus of this work. Description
42" x 56" oil on birch panel 2006
After the Scream In the midst of his middle-class life, the nude figure curls up on a sofa almost in a fetal position. He emotes a feeling that is best depicted by Edvard Munch in the painting The Scream. A copy of The Scream hangs over the fireplace. Fenton suggests that the social isolation and the resulting melancholia cause the colors of the figure’s environment to intensify and distort as the nude figure contemplates his life. Description
12" x 14" oil on birch panel 2006
After Manet- Gulgilim Luncheon Manet’s painting Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) engendered great controversy and shocked Parisians in 1863. Manet presented a nude female with clothed gentlemen at a picnic. Fenton updates the same concept, showing the ladies undressed and the men in clothes. Description
33" x 49.5" oil on birch panel 2006
Dinner at 8:00 Suicide bombings commonly happen in the Middle East. Americans are mostly oblivious to the pain the terrorist causes because it is something over there, not here. Fenton wants us to imagine the terrible event here to sensitize us to the horror. Description
42" x 54" oil on birch panel 2004
Caught Just prior to an explosive moment! Description
36" x 36" oil on birch panel 2004
Laminations of Jeremiah Fenton describes people throwing rocks at Jews whom they have been taught to hate. In the process of their actions, they fracture the world, a world in which the highest moral standards are the bulwark against destruction. Even so, the Jews fracture as easily as the world. The weeping prophet Jeremiah witnesses all from his vantage point between the layers of the broken world. Description
33" x 49" oil on birch panel 2003
Bicycle Accident People gather at the Jefferson Memorial. It is a place that unites Americans, and yet the figures in this painting function as individuals or small groups that are oblivious to the commonality of all, even to the bicycle accident off to their right. Description
28" x 36" oil on birch panel 2004
Sunday Drive through the Hood Two very different worlds exist and are separated, in this case, by a car door. Fear, distrust, intimidation, alienation, survival of the fittest, and ownership of turf are words which come to mind when one thinks about these co-existing but separate provinces. Description
18" x 24" oil on linen 2002
CEO Fenton portrays a Chief Executive Officer of a major corporation (Enron) making decisions which affect the lives of countless others. The CEO’s decisions are based on personal and corporate greed. Fenton compares the corporate leader to a sleazy hot dog vendor. Potential customers should think twice before purchasing anything from this CEO/vendor. Description
24" x 18" oil on birch panel 2002
The Selling of the Golden Calf In Exodus, the golden calf was a false god created by the Israelites while Moses was on top of Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments. As punishment for such idol worship, the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years. In this painting, Fenton draws a parallel between the Biblical golden calf and the idolatry created and encouraged by contemporary consumerism, leading to the metaphoric desert of our own making. Fenton references Rembrandt’s Moses with the Table of the Law as a contemporary ghost, smashing the tablets in reaction to our new idolatry. Description
36" x 66" oil on birch panel 2002
The Last Dismissal of Hagar In Genesis, Sarah persuades Abraham to cast out her servant Hagar along with Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. Ishmael grew up to become the patriarch of the Arab Nations, and Isaac, Sarah’s and Abraham’s son, became the patriarch of the Jews and Christians. The separation of the two step-brothers marks the beginning of the struggle between the Semitic cousins, Arabs and Jews, that continues to this day. Fenton acknowledges this story’s place in art history by including an image of Robert Strange’s 18th-century painting above the fireplace. Both artists recreate the story in their own time period, presenting the story as a contemporary domestic drama. If Isaac and Ishmael cannot find a way to share their home, Fenton suggests it will surely be lost to both of them. Description
48" x 48" oil on birch panel 2000
Akedah -Covenant Description not provided. Description
48”x 48” oil on birch panel 1999
Akedah- Ultimate Choice Description not provided. Description
31.5" x 33.75" oil on birch panel 1998
Bird House The genesis for this painting was sparked by the artist’s visit to his daughter’s apartment in New York City. Gazing out from her balcony, he constructed imaginary life stories unraveling on the stacked balconies in front of him. All the balconies suggest separate existential lives, which the pigeons have the clearest view. Description
37.5" x 25.5" oil on birch panel 1998
Akedah-The Binding of Isaac The Binding of Isaac (Akedah) found in Genesis is retold as a contemporary story of popular culture’s sacrifices of children. Each panel dramatizes the moment in which the angel stops Abraham from sacrificing his son. God provides a sacrificial ram as a substitute for Isaac. A metaphoric ram and other visual metaphors are used in each panel to help dramatize and draw parallels from the Biblical story to the present. Description
45.75" x 36.5" oil on birch panel 1997
The Muse pays a visit and stops All the Clocks and Watches Description not provided. Description
62.5" x 62.5" oil on birch panel 1996
The Life and Times of M. Stanley Description not provided. Description
50" x 74" oil on birch panel 1994
1965 Ohio State Buckeyes This painting was inspired by an Ohio State University yearbook. The twenty-two-year-old graduates, including the artist with their flat tops, bouffants, and flips, were optimistically ready to leave their student realm and enter the real world to make their mark. These graduates are now parents, and their own children are optimistically facing life as the graduates once had done. How quickly time passes and how speedily lost is our youthful idealism. Description
96" x 192" oil and aluminum leaf on birch panel 1993
Madlyn and Larry Description not provided. Description
28" x 25" oil on birch panel 1991
The Wally Spiegel Family Commissioned portrait of the Wally Spiegel Family, who emigrated from Russia to the U.S. Description
48" x 60" oil on birch panel 1991
Tallit and Bandolier The survivors of the Holocaust, vowing to never let themselves be put in a weak position again, moved to their ancient homeland, Israel, and built a country that required an army to keep them safe. Description
24” x 24” open 24” x 48” oil on birch panel 1990
Red Scare Description not provided. Description
37" x 30" oil on birch panel 1990
The Breakup of the USSR All the signs were glaringly obvious, so Fenton, “of the duck and cover generation,” made this prediction painting that the USSR was going to break up. He used a blown-up Soviet tank as a visual metaphor for the giant’s collapse. Description
29.5" x 34.5" oil on birch panel 1990
Mount Rushmore Disposition Gutzon Borglum carved the presidents’ portraits out of the granite of Mount Rushmore, and Fenton paid homage to the sculptor and his accomplishment with a rearrangement of his work in paint. Description
49.5" x 61" oil on birch panel 1989
Gertrude's Trunk- Boys will be Boys This is part of the Gertrude’s Trunk series and highlights the astonishing energy pictured by the long-gone youthful participants. Description
16" x 16" oil on birch panel 1989
Gertrude's Trunk - Wintrop and Eugene Description not provided. Description
16" x 16" oil on birch panel 1988
Gertrude's Trunk-Thursday Stanley took me to the Park Description not provided. Description
16" x 16" oil on birch panel 1988
Gertrude's Trunk- Poor William Description not provided. Description
16" x 16" oil on birch panel 1988
Gertrude's Trunk- My New Hat Description not provided. Description
16" x 16" oil on birch panel 1988
Gertrude's Trunk- Save Me Description not provided. Description
16" x 16" oil on birch panel 1988
Gertrude's Trunk- My New Hat Rummaging through an old trunk once owned by Gertrude Hodgeman, a missionary nurse who worked in China, Fenton came across photographs, including one that had the pencil inscription "My New Hat" scrawled on the surface. Knowing that Ms. Hodgeman was long gone and thinking about the inscription, the artist was inspired to create a series of paintings dealing with the energy and vigor of the pictured youth and the fleetingness of that energy, idealism, and life itself. Description
16" x 16" oil on birch panel 1988
Gertrude's Trunk- King of the Mountain Description not provided. Description
29" x 48" oil on birch panel 1988
Gertrude's Trunk- June 1915 This is part of the Gertrude’s Trunk series and portrays a highly romantic and nostalgic honeymoon in Niagara Falls at the beginning of the 20th century. Description
36" x 48" oil on birch panel 1987
Saratoga August Description not provided. Description
57" x 50" oil on birch panel 1987
Novus Ordo Seclorum - Pleasures at the Mall Description not provided. Description
21" x 47", 42" x 47", 21" x 47" oil on birch panel 1985
Royal Tiger Kill Description not provided. Description
54" x 69" oil on birch panel 1982
Three of Queens Description not provided. Description
18" x 23" oil on birch panel 1981
Ellis Island Gateway Description not provided. Description
72" x 72" oil on birch panel 1981
Seed of Abraham (Open) Description not provided. Description
33" x 51" oil on birch panel 1979
Seed of Abraham (Closed) Description not provided. Description
33" x 25.5" oil on birch panel 1979
Compostion in Black and Gray's Anatomy Description not provided. Description
49" x 70" oil on masonite 1978
Portrait of Midge Description not provided. Description
48" x 62" oil on masonite 1977
Bio- Morphic Orbit Description not provided. Description
62" x 71" oil on masonite 1976
Vita - Morphic Syntax Description not provided. Description
37" x 62" oil on masonite 1975
Fleshy Remnant Description not provided. Description
60" x 120" oil on plywood 1973
American Remnant Description not provided. Description
48" x 60" oil on canvas 1969