ARTIST STATEMENT

I cannot remember why this came about but somehow I was asked to serve as the photographer to document this wonderful event. I do remember, however, thinking that I could not possibly do so as I was in the midst of building a new business in the women's apparel field with my wife, the painter Lynn Small and my brother Mel. We had just created Fashion Metamorphosis where we were trying to make a name for ourselves in a second-story loft on the corner of 37th Street and Seventh Avenue in New York. Art by the Yard was our vision and we created unusal handpainted, silkscreened and airbrushed apparel. As our oversized windows filled up with artful banners, the word went out and we hired talented artists to work with us—professionals and promising art students alike—by word-of-mouth we assembled a creative team. Fashion Metamorphosis became know as a company where the fine art of fashion was practiced. I believe that somehow the link to the Cosmic Mass came about through our airbrushers or one of the handpainters from our Soho Paint Works line.

After having said it would be impossible, I changed my mind and decided to take on the task of documenting this spiritual event. At the time I did not understand why. Perhaps, it was the music or the idea of spending tranquil time in one of the most spiritual buildings in America, if not the world.

Maybe it was the idea of a totally different mind set or the reality that our rapidly-expanding business was far afield from the lives Lynn and I had been living.

We had just returned from several years away—living and working in Spain and Mexico. Up to then our existence was and is today completely dedicated to the making of art.

Whatever it was I was drawn in and committed myself to the task at hand. As I look back almost forty years later and see how the pathway of our lives has evolved, I can only wonder at the wisdom I know I did not posess at such a young age.