In 1989, after a half-lifetime of making only abstract art, I started making paintings portraying the Provincetown Art community at leisure – what people do when they are not working – the fabric of life that draws people back every year.
"In this exhibition we celebrate the work of two Cape Cod artists: Raymond Elman and Norma Holt. For decades they recorded the intellectual and cultural life of our unique art colony at the tip of Cape Cod by making portraits of the creative talent that embraces the special nature of this seaside community.
This place is the hidden character of the story, and perhaps the most influential one. It breathes a historic significance into the images of Elman and Holt. To understand why, one only needs to look at the Outer Cape as a historic center of creative achievement. The people that live or lived here gave it a kind of star power. They came for inspiration and were rewarded by the nature of this place. The Outer Cape is isolated enough for one’s thoughts to gain clarity. However, the Outer Cape’s geography is also compact enough so one does not need to go too far to reach a social center of town to find a willing collaborator. In this way, recognized and less recognized artists rubbed shoulders with each other so that everybody, including the subjects of these portraits, became part of the cultural stew and birthed remarkable artwork."