Arnold David Clapman  

 Recent Work

This series of "portraits," of the Infernal Hierarchy, was created with soft pastels on 18"X25.5" sheets of Canson paper. Seven were done in 1979 and the final five were completed in the past few years.

The images were initially inspired by Arnold David Clapman's love of horror movies, as a boy, and later, by the Lovecraft short story, "Pickman's Model." It has been said by the noted Boston visionary artist, Paul Laffoley, that these works reflect the influences of both Picasso and Francis Bacon.

 

In 2010, due to deteriorating budget developments in California, funding to many outreach programs were cut and Arnold realized that he could no longer make ends meet there. Furthermore, his marriage of 17 years came to an end. Most of his cronies had passed away and Santa Cruz no longer felt like home.

 

Baltimore beckoned with better support and work opportunities for seniors, as well as closer proximity to family and childhood friends. Arnold moved to Pikesville and became a resident in the Weinberg House, an independent living facility for seniors where he screens movies 4 nights a week for the residents. He has also connected with local jewish musicians in the Hassidic community, namely Avrami Finkelstein and Avraham Rosenblum with whom he formed the 7 piece band "The Brisket Brothers". Arnold has also become a regular in a circle of musicians presided over by noted guitarist Josh Polack at the former Pikesville Guitar Shop Studio. Arnold continues to freelance, providing monthly cartoons for "Senior Citizens", his cartoon feature in the Weinberg House newsletter. He has also completed a graphic novel and illustrations for a series of short stories written by his grandfather and namesake, Aaron David Schwartz. He is also teaching private conga drum lessons privately to a small select group of people who will eventually become a drum circle.