72 in. X 96 in., oil and enamel on canvas. This painting was inpired by an episode from that all-time best seller, the Bible. I focused on the two elements that all popular art must contain; sex & violence. The serpent, as it turns out (in my telling of the story of Adam and Eve), is, in reality, only the tail of a very ferocious leopard. Fornication, or possibly only oral sex, takes place as the fruit is being eaten. The sickly little tree is, after all, the tree of knowledge. But not the knowledge of Socrates. This is the Bible, and in this case knowledge is carnal. Satan has been stripped of his connection to the cycles of the earth because, unlike a snake that sheds its skin, we all know that a leopard does not change its spots. And how does one spot a leopard? Although I've waited since third grade to tell this joke, I have to concede that in a painting the artist can, and indeed must spot the leopard.
