There must be an impetus - a spark - that drives an artist to take on the unique and daunting challenges that define the creation of a masterwork…a painting so ambitious by virtue of its demands and the loftiness of its goals that it is likely to define the artist in a significant way. What that moment is will perhaps be of interest only as an historic footnote. How the resulting work impacts meaningfully on the individual experiencing it, reflects the tenets of a society, or provides a visual reference of human struggle and triumph, will ultimately decide on its relevance in the life of the artist and its contribution as art. In all ways that can predict that level of achievement, Steve Huston's painting entitled "Removing the Work: A Self-Portrait" has fulfilled its promise.

In this work containing some twenty-three figures, Huston has presented us with a summary of his "creative" life to date. His studio is filled with movers and workmen who are disassembling a compilation of his past canvases. He revisits some of his most important paintings and in doing so, we are exposed not just to the individual works but to the process and the journey he has traveled so far. The painting contains significant references to both Titian and Rubens. Huston's continuing theme deals with the sacrificing of the body for an ideal and, although his inspiration may be drawn from the martyr paintings of the Renaissance masters, he interprets the meaning through the uniquely American mindset -- if we are willing to do the work, we can accomplish almost anything. In that pursuit, we experience birth, death and hopefully rebirth or even salvation. Ultimately however, what we hope to find is that there is meaning to our own journey, and that is the spirit that Huston so successfully captures. Each step, each struggle, each person has significance worthy of reflection and self-examination.