Night Train (2002)
Twin bed, sheets, model train with sound component

Side By Side, Brooks Museum of Art
Memphis, Tennessee, June 30-September 22, 2002

My first impulse was to select one of the more obscure works from the collection. I considered some rarely if ever seen samplers and furniture pieces, but nothing really sparked. Eventually, I half-heartedly committed to a contemporary sculpture that, like much of my own work, combined image and text. But Benton's wonderful painting was lurking not so far back in my mind, I guess. The idea for Night Train came in an instant, the apparent product of a subconscious overwhelmed by the symbolic potency of dreams and trains.

I contacted the museum immediately, hoping that another artist hadn’t already claimed Engineer's Dream. Once inspired, I didn't hesitate for a moment because, as rational and methodical as my work may seem, the images that I trust and like the most almost always arrive as unexpected gifts.

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