ROGUE’S GALLERY
A COLLABORATION WITH SHANNON CRONIN
10 egg tempera & gouache paintings on 10” square panels
Egg tempera faces meet gouache backdrops in a haunted new take on Gilded Age mugshots taken from Thomas Byrnes’ Professional Criminals of America (1886). Shannon Cronin renders the sitters’ visages in luminous oil-free layers; I build their worlds in gouache—florals, thorns, skulls, flags—that both dress and distort their features.
They hover between genteel refinement and guilty glamour. Freed from record and rap sheet, they become time-worn enigmas: beautiful, yet somehow compromised. Rogue’s Gallery asks us to consider how history softens intent, how appearance reshapes context.
#130 Mary Mack alias Brockey Annie Sneak and Shoplifter A member of a gang of women shoplifters and pennyweights.
#105 Solomon Stern Bogus Checks and Confidence Operator Turned to crime in gratify his inamorata (female lover).
#164 Wesly Allen alias Wes Allen Pickpocket, Sneak, and Burglar “The most notorious criminal in America.”
#122 Bertha Heyman alias Big Bertha Confidence Queen Used her knowledge of human to pilfer individuals of thousands of dollars.
#2 David Bliss alias Dr. Bliss Sneak Stole $3,500 worth of silverware.
#5 Phillip Phearson alias Philly Pherson Bank Sneak A respectable Quaker, arrested for a bank heist in Montreal.
#127 Annie Reilly alias Little Annie Dishonest Servant Worked in affluent homes as a child’s nurse, gained the confidence of the lady of the house, and stole jewelry.
Rudolph Lewis alias Young Rudolph, Rudolph Miller Shoplifter Stole silk in New York, skipped bail, rearrested in Boston, served time in Sing Sing.
#47 Dennis Carroll Aliases William Thompson, Big Slim Burglar and Pickpocket A bold desperate thief who shot a police officer and was pardoned for having and incurable disease. Made a miraculous recovery upon release.
#121 Mary Anne Watts aliases Mary Wilson, Mary Walker Pickpocket and Shoplifter A clever dressmaker and thief who escaped prison and was rearrested for shoplifting.