Jack Balas, 2013; GOLD MINE (#1026); oil on gessoed paper, 30" x 22"

text:
30 years ago John sent me a postcard of this dinosaur they were building near Palm Springs, 50 feet high out of steel & wire that you can walk up in to look out from the jaws. They were going to cover it in concrete, which was my thought about these boxes I was looking down into full of cards & letters & maps & travel brochures & photos, my own dinosaur I've been building in the closet for 30 or 40 years. BUT when I saw the card down in there and pulled it out, it seemed to breathe in all of a sudden -- and I realized I was not sitting on a fossil, but on a GOLD MINE.