Dimensions: 30" x 25"
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Life Goes On - Completed on 5/18/98
This painting took me 2 months to complete.

This painting speaks to all of my friends that I lost and then when I moved to New York.

I left Philadelphia on March 12, 1997 to pursue my gut feeling that I was going to be a somebody to reckon with. With Ceally, Leandra, and Mr. Mullin all gone I felt as if I had nothing left to loose.

On the third week of Ceally being gone I woke up that day with such an urge to go to New York. I knew exactly how I was going to do it. And I just ran after the dream. But during the whole process, I felt very weak and vulnerable. I frequently cried, sometimes before interviews, about not having my friends support. So I had to be as strong as I could. And remember hearing her voice whisper in my mind 'Go Joey, Go and make it happen). I would become so determined and begin to recite Luke 11: 9-13 and make every meeting lead to another.

The periscopes represent the people in heaven. No matter how far I go in life, they will always be able to see me as they extend the pole upwards in the stratosphere (which is where my career is). On the periscopes are phones without recievers. This is because sometimes you hear in the wind the voice of a loved one. And you cannot answer them, which is why there is no receiver. The fence in the background covers the landscape. Because I was unable to run from the nightmares, the horrors of waking up and crying about my friends being gone. The two graves that are freshly dug are about Ceally and my friend Dennis Rommollini (Dennis committed suicide around the time I was about to finish this painting) These two people were the hardest ones to deal with. Each day felt as if I just lost them! The tree signifies how much we've seen and yet these things still happen. The person in the painting represents me. I am big and strong because I am able to move on. As I stated earlier, I was very weak and had a hard time doing anything. Now that I am strong I can move on!