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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.

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Triptych 43"x 99" oil on birch panel 2023

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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