Jerry Seinfeld is a fan of “the”. Not wanting his writers to waste time coming up with titles… a simple equation was established = The + Situation.

In “The Letter”, Episode 21, Season 3; Jerry’s girlfriend paints a portrait of Kramer. The result? ‘The Kramer’. And so, my painting, based on a painting created on a show about nothing, is titled, ‘The, The Kramer’.

As always, the process begins with deconstruction… reducing the K-Man to the essential forms. Subject. Background. Warm under-painting. That warmth, while eventually covered with 6-8 layers of paint… still (somehow) resonates on the final layer.

Blocking out the shadows is often my second step. It takes time to draw in the most important details to capture a likeness… eyes, nostrils and mouth. You’ll notice annotations in the various areas… I delineate tones with letters… so yes, it’s like I’m creating my own color-by-numbers.

Working this 20″X24″ oval canvas, I was focused on speed and balance… hence, painting a first pass on the blue collar while I worked the face. What’s striking about the original painting, is the sharp shadows, and emphasis on Kramer’s facial expression. It’s as if the static image is moving.

Next, I finished my first pass on the hair. From there, I dove into the multitude of tones on the face. The lack of symmetry was important to capture. Natural beauty is defined by well-balanced features… character is captured in the space between.

I don’t concern myself with beauty in the creation process. It’s important to allocate space to course correct, and create a greater balance with each layer. And, of course, acrylic is excellent for layering.

The first pass was a bit too warm… here, I softened the tones a bit. I intended to captures Kramer in a warm tonality… but balance is key. As you can see, I then drew in the shapes on his jacket. X, O… dark, light.

It’s dangerous to capture the final tones with a red background, so I dove into the space behind Kramer. I also took a first pass at the jacket….

With the background, I wanted to create motion, to mimic Kramer’s frenetic head movements. In the pilot, Kramer had a dog… the pup was later nixed, but Michael Richards decided to embody the dog as a sub-character for Kramer. Rapid movements, constantly barging into Jerry’s apartment, and constantly foraging for food.

And now, it was time to refine everything, beginning at the hair and working my way down. Kramer used to wear a small band in his hair to create the multi-tiered magnificence, and I wanted that to resonate. Each layer was carefully captured with a size 5-0 brush.

Following a great deal of time painting while listening to ‘Expeditionary Force’, by Craig Alanson… I found my way to completion. As a Manhattanite for 13 year, Seinfeld remains a major anthem, despite being filmed in Los Angeles. When I first saw ‘The Kramer’, I knew I would paint it. As is often the case, it took 20 or so years to hit the easel.

In 2018, I created ‘When Gary Met Jerry‘… which featured Gary Cooper from ‘The Westerner’ in front of The Seinfeld Diner. Somehow, this piece continues to hang at Borbay Studios & Gallery… and is one of my all-time favorites.