The boys form a serpentine line of figures as they grow from infant to adult. Eventually, one dies in a hospital on life supports. The other lies face down, in a pool of blood in the street. Their destiny is a mix of inevitability and choice. Downs, who in past series dealt with cross-eras from Indian tribes to astronauts, now manipulates time and space with trompe l'eoil effects.
Elevators go nowhere and a blue, cloud-filled sky becomes an empty backdrop.
Traditional positions of up, down, sides, front, and back become topsy turvy. In Red Trees Painted a chair is half in a room and half in a forest. In other works, silent staircases go skyward, and a vaporous sky becomes solid cubes suspended from heaven. Russian-born Popov's art appears the most visceral of the trio. He creates realistically and abstractly.