Toly: Maybe it's the Henry Miller in me...

Soda Pop Sideshow - 20" x 30"

Chris: And so then, why the amount of violence?

Toly: Cause violence is a part of everyday life and you can't turn a corner without seeing something violent; it's just apart of my life.

Chris: So is this a reaction to it? Is this just sort of a photojournalist type of concept? Saying this is what it is, I'm not trying to change it?

Toly: Yeah this is what it is, and it's a part of my life and I'm trying to just...in a sense it's like art therapy for me cause it calms me down when I paint, so I don't know. So that's actually from "Tomorrow's a Dragon" it's a 50's film, there's this section in the film where this girl recites a poem, so I just turned it around and put in a soda pop shop and said tomorrow is a dragon and girl was like yeah, and there was a guy that was trying to pick her up and she's like motioning with her fingers and and she was saying like he had a small dick...I don't know. it's not really that deep but at the same time...

Chris: It's as deep as you want it, if you wanted I could make it extremely deep. I could foam at the mouth and say through the use of the red splatters, which symbolize blood and the blood comes from here, and then because the guy is not actually completely filled in there is a certain ephemerality to him. Because the women is not only fully drawn in and is also smack dead center in the middle of the painting, there is much more significance to her. Then I go back and check out Greek mythology or something like that, and pull out some sort of Medusa, and foam and foam.

Toly: She is a powerful image and if you look a little closer she is at the bottom she is like smacking someone with the back of her hand and it says "zodiac" on the back of her right hand. So I don't understand why it is degrading.

Chris: Oh I'm not, I'm using that as an example. It's more of an overall sensation, given the violence, naked women. But on a less contentious issue; When reading some of the comments in the paintings, that you write, it gets somewhat confusing. Some of the comments actually confuse the viewer rather than clarifying what is going on in the painting, why do you do this?