Valeri Larko

I painted this on location in the Bronx. I was attracted to the signage and the dead tree in the planter, whose color was similar to the brick of the building and compositionally tied everything together. When the onwer of the motel saw me painting his motel, he had his worker replace the dead tree with a new one, that one died too. The original billboard wasn't very interesting and while I was painting on site, I kept waiting for it to change to something better. It never did, so I took some artistic license and added a billboard that I had seen in another location in the Bronx. The "When you die You will meet god" billboard, along with the hotel signage and the fact that the motel is located at exit 13, made for a fun and quirky combination. The subtitle to this painting could be promises, promise, because no one is going to the Holiday Motel for holiday and that tree, is still dead.