I wanted to paint big. As an architect-turned-artist, I continue to be fascinated by large manmade objects: buildings, bridges, earthmoving machines, trucks, trains. My ambitions were at odds, however, with my chosen medium—pastel. The heaviness of the protective glass, to say nothing of the cost, made large pastel works impractical. And then there was the transportation issue: I drive a MINI Cooper.
I found the solution to these problems in the ages-old tradition of the polyptych, broadly defined as a multipaneled painting. As I later learned, the tradition arose in part as a practical response to the same problems I was facing. In the Middle Ages, for example, altarpiece paintings often were hinged to fold shut for protection (in Greek, “ptych” means “fold”) and to facilitate relocation from one place…
