I think that 'Everything’s Comin’ up Roses but Ethel’s Pushin’ up Daisies' has the same basic message about creating your own reality as the Yma Sumac piece.   It is about a woman who knew what she wanted to be, chased her own dream and became Broadway’s most famous singer despite having an  unconventional voice and delivery. She did not imitate  success to succeed, but invented a new style that suited her best.  You are  going to be dead a long time so live life to the fullest, do with this life what you want to while you can.  The painting is full of references to stenographer Ethel Agnes Zimmerman’s glorious show business career as Ethel Merman.

         The horribly untalented classical singer Florence Foster Jenkins once eloquently said, "some may say that I couldn't sing, but no one can say that I didn't sing." That instantly resonated with me, in fact, it has been my philosophy behind so many of my adventures. Living life to the fullest by following one's own dream born out of passion or want and without the paralizing fear of peers or criticism takes a lot of courage and the rewards so far have outweighed any embarrassment or consequences. There will be painters who can technically paint better, draw better, create more beauty, and convey more profound content than me. There will be men more handsome, clever, successful and funny than me. Yet, I don't let them stop me from trying. And I have no regrets. That is what this painting is really about. Ethel is just the metaphor.

Coppertone

From the Daily Camera 8/17/03: "While the ostensible "stories" of these paintings might veer toward the unpleasant (and, in the case of "Bar Scene," even the grotesque), the paint itself is luxuriously applied, a seductive dance of color and texture on the canvas. This is particularly evident in "Coppertone," an oil that depicts a white woman rubbing suntan lotion on a black man's back. It's easy enough to read a sexual tension into the relationship between these two characters, but what's more satisfying is how Alpern renders the scene. The rich and variable blues of the water shimmer and collide, the flesh tones mingle and merge with the sand, and Matisse-like patterns blossom throughout the composition."

Oil on Canvas, 48" x 44"

Since the beginning I  have combined fictional and historical characters to tell stories or rather fables of my own.  'Miss Taken for Evil' honors wrongly vilified women such as the Witch of the West, Lizzie Borden, Lear’s daughters Goneril and Regan, women of heroic nature and deeds yet misunderstood because of gender.  

      For example, I see Dorothy as the real villain.  Upon her arrival in Oz she kills the Witch of the East.  True, it is an accident, but the inheritance, namely the Ruby Slippers, in any just world would be left to the next of kin, not the careless killer.  The Witch of the West has a right to be mad, her sister having just been killed and the killer possessing the witch’s rightful inheritance.   Dorothy asks the Wizard to send herhome.  The Wizard agrees on the condition that Dorothy and friends bring him the broomstick of the Witch of the West.  “But to do that, we will have to kill her to get it,” they reply.  “Bring me the broomstick and I’ll grant your request,” the Wizard insists.  So Dorothy marches off with her friends to WILLFULLY rob from and kill the woman whose sister she has already done in and then whose beloved slippers she has kept.  Who is the bad person here, the independent homely woman living alone without a man or the pretty little thing who murders to get what she wants?  What twisted values we must have to admire Dorothy!  

Even in Kansas Dorothy is spoiled and selfish.  She comes home complaining that Miss Gulch is going to get the sheriff, “just because  she says, ‘Toto gets in her garden and chases her nasty old cat everyday ‘ - but he doesn’t do it EVERY day - just once or twice a week.”  As if only a few times a week makes it okay.  The farm hand even suggests “when you come home don’t go by  Miss Gulch’s place then Toto won’t get in her garden and you won’t get in no trouble, see.”  But Dorothy doesn’t see.  As a gardener myself I hate it when the neighbor dogs get in my yard and trample my garden.  Poor Miss Gulch asks Dorothy time and again to keep Toto away, but  Dorothy doesn’t and on this day Toto actually bites the woman on the leg leaving her “all but lame.”  That would  be too much for me too.  I think the witch is totally misunderstood and mistaken for evil.  But that awful Dorothy,  what bad faults we overlook in the beautiful.

Silver Nantucket Fog

The first time I ever saw Nantucket was at night. I was enchanted. And, although splendid at all times, I never got over my first impression.

On the island, people kept asking me, “What are you going to paint?” 

My response was, “I don’t know - but it will be at night.” 

I think Nantucket is at its most magic at night. There is something about the beams of light moving through the fog and mist touching everything and everyone and the angles of the buildings all seeming to lean forward to whisper their unique stories. The whole island sparkles at night and its colorful history seems so present - virtually revealing itself, eagerly retelling its stories night after night.

'Icarus ' Falling Series #1. Icarus has flown to close to the sun and his wings fashioned after a butterfly have begun to melt and tear. He reaches to secure them, the background is in motion as he begins to tumble. He is red with heat and lit by the intense light.

Oil on canvas, 36" x 36"

Coffin House, Nantucket

Wild Painter. Vivid, Colorful and expressive paintings. Narrative subject matter. Pop culture, portraits, landscapes, nudes, camp humor, musicians, singers, cafe society, Nantucket, Colorado and historical figures are subjects.

Colorado artist Tyler Alpern paints colorful canvases in oil. Subjects range from pop culture icons to camp humor to nudes and portraits. The work can be very narrative or simply whimsical. Carefully crafted yet expressive and surprising imagery. The power and beauty of paint is just as fundemental as the suject and composition. Wild!

Barbarini Pineapple

Oil on Canvas 48" x 56"