Conjoined Couple, ink wash on paper, 43.2 x 35.5 cm (17 x 14 inches), 2000
Many years ago, I began an ongoing series about couples—some real, some imagined, some famous, some very personal. Couples—romantic, platonic or familial—can be as mesmerizing as swirling eddies or as transfixing as a car wreck. The way two beings become entwined has been explored in psychology, literature, music and film, but much less so in painting. I haven’t come close to exhausting my fascination with the visual representation of entangled couples.
A. M. HOCH, Monster Tamer, ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2008A. M. HOCH, Monster Tamer (sitting), ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Monster Tamer (riding), ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Woman on an Elephant, ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Woman Turning into an Elephant, ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Woman Carrying a Sick Baby Elephant (Number 4), ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Woman Carrying a Sick Baby Elephant (Number 3), ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Girl Holding a Sick Baby Elephant, ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Woman Carrying a Sick Baby Elephant (Number 3), ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Strange Couple, mixed media on linen, approx 8 x 5.5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Rimbaud Carrying His Mother into the Ocean, ink wash on paper, 5.25 x 4.75 inches, 2013A. M. HOCH, Rimbaud and His Mother, charcoal on linen, approx 8.6 x 8 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Rimbaud and His Mother #1, ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2008A. M. HOCH, Rimbaud and His Mother #2, ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2008A. M. HOCH, Rimbaud and His Mother (redux), ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2013A. M. HOCH, Rimbaud and His Mother (redux), ink wash on paper, 7 x 5 inches, 2013
According to many accounts, Rimbaud had an entangled, turbulent relationship with his mother. Though his verses were dazzlingly free, the knot that bound Rimbaud to his disturbed mother was insoluble. He died of cancer in his late thirties, attended by his mother.
A. M. HOCH, Couple #1, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches, 2001
A. M. HOCH, Couple #2, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches, 2001
A. M. HOCH, Couple #3, oil on canvas with resin, 48 x 36 inches, 2001
A. M. HOCH, Dark Couple, oil on canvas with resin, 36 x 48 inches, 2006
A. M. HOCH, Conjoined Couple, oil on conjoined canvases, approximately 72 x 60 inches, 2001A. M. HOCH, Long Couple (with fingers in face), oil on canvas, 60 x 36 inches, 2007A. M. HOCH, Entangled Couple (pink), oil on canvas, approximately 18.25 x 15.25 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Rimbaud and His Mother, oil on canvas, approximately 37 x 30.5 inches, 2009A. M. HOCH, Punk Love (small), oil on canvas, mounted on canvas, approximately 27.75 x 24 inches, 2009A. M. Hoch, Punk Love (large), oil on canvas, 55 x 34.25 inches, 2013
A. M. HOCH, Young Woman Carrying a Sick Baby Elephant, oil on canvas, 23.6 x 23.6 inches (approximately), 2010
