There is no “I” in suburb, is a series of pastel drawings by Philadelphia based artist R. Michael Wommack.  They are his observations of growing up in the archetypal American 1950’s subdivision called Levittown, in Pennsylvania.  He moved there with his family at the age of 7.  Started 8 years ago, they were triggered by a dream the artist had of swimming in pools at night in his old neighborhood.  Extraordinarily vivid, the colors in the drawings come from the dream, combined with subconsciously remembered imagery. While sociological statements are inevitable with such work, they are meant to remain ambiguous.

 

One reviewer wrote, “Though lacking human forms, his night drawings are warm with life.  The pools seem inviting.  Here and there, light from TV sets spill onto darkened front yards from ubiquitous picture windows.  This mysterious, yet innocent landscape, dominates the new interior scenes.  They work from the premise that what you mainly see from the picture window of a Levittown house is another Levittown house.”

 

He was introduced to Houston in 1991 while working with architect Robert Venturi on design and execution of the Houston Children’s Museum.  While traveling here to paint the cartoon-like characters holding up the colonnade, he fell in love with the city.