I painted these three paintings for the Brassworks Gallery 3rd Annual Postcard Show in Portland, Oregon, where I have family.

“North Portland: The Final Frontier” is a sequel to my original 2015 painting of this. It puts the Starship Enterprise over the St. Johns Bridge. This came 10 years after the original one!

“The Portland of Misfit Toys” should come as no surprise. If you follow me, you know that I am a big fan of the Misfit Toys from the 1964 children’s classic television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. They play a starring role in my painting Misfits FM and also show up in Garbage. Here, I mashed them up with Portland’s iconic White Stag sign in Old Town.

The last one, “Only we can prevent fascism”, akes Smokey Bear’s old wildfire slogan and points it somewhere else. It’s also the most personal of the three for me. As a young Jewish boy, my family drilled into me the dangers of authoritarian regimes. My parents were the second generation in both of their families to be born in the US. I learned about Hitler, the Nazis, and the concentration camps. I also learned about the pogroms in Russia. 

As the only Jewish family in a small town, my mom warned us not to tell people about our religion. Then, in elementary school, the teachers felt bad that my brother and I had no role in the annual Christmas pageant. So they came up with a solution: on the stage with all the other kids, in front of all our families, they gave us giant yellow Stars of David to hold. My mom lost her shit.

As I grew older, I started reading history books. I studied Hitler’s rapid rise in post-WWI Germany and the swift, dramatic fall of the German Republic. I read many concentration camp memoirs, like Night by Elie Wiesel. I would discuss what I read with my parents. My mom always warned me it could happen here.

It can happen here. But we can stop it.

Acrylic and Posca on cardboard. Measures 4” x 6”.