Panes 2024-2026
These works are called “Panes”. They are paintings made of epoxy built up into sheets embedded with glitter, textiles, pigment and photo transparencies. They are mounted on posts that suspend them one inch from the wall which allows light to hit the surface, pass into, and through them. Also included in this gallery are works on paper which are studies for the Pane paintings in epoxy.
H signs 2021-24
I am chilled by the language and rhetoric in the political and social environment.
There is rhetoric that indulges, taunts, and manipulates the fears and resentments that expresses an inherent destructive legacy, a facet of humanity. It is speech which puts blame on entire groups of people, exposing a cruel willingness and indifference towards harming others. It is a distillate of hate being utilized as a tool to get votes and gather power at the expense of justice, truth and compassion. It tears people, society, and the world apart.
It is the clumsy obviousness in the insinuations and covertness, in the use of hate and rancor as a tool, which is so agonizing. Innuendo and mendacity used to camouflage and convey messages that incite and manipulate our tendencies toward hatred and violence. That is what disturbs in a special way!
Instead of being obscured and implied I want to make that message exposed and visible, visual and tactile, able to be seen and examined. In the grammatical context I want to display the verb and noun without its object, and embodied in a visual and physical form.
These artworks are not intended as neutral exploration, nor overt commentary. They are a response to the disquiet I feel, embedded into the visual object. I call them “H signs”.
The idiomatic language and clarity of commercial signage inform and inspires my approach to making these works. As for form and function the commercial sign is a model of efficient communication embedded within a vehicle offering opportunities for poetic and visual expression, telling a story.
I am roused by the stacked elements defining and twisting in the space around them, flashing “VACANCY/NO VACANCY”, to invite an overnight stay, and stirred by the martini glass in neon, in all its retinal delight, like a Faberge Egg, steering one towards the alcoholic oasis.
Rackets 2012-21
“Rackets” are a group of wall mounted sculptures made between 2012 and 2021.
When making these I was modelling and guided by the format, functionality and visual presence of American commercial signage as an effective contrivance for communication.
Like a motel sign or bowling alley sign they have a frontality and a three-dimensional presence. They can be read from a distance. Up close the disparate parts carve out and define the space around them, and interact with the wall.
These works refer to themselves, and outwards to the world. The results are a visual and symbolic narrative in between the literal and poetic.
Each work began with a seed of an idea or feeling: about a photograph, a piece of wood, or something less concrete. The elements took on new identities as the work progressed and components were altered, adjusted, readjusted, and knitted together into a whole.
The materials used included, wood, photographs, epoxy, paint, aluminum, fabric, beadwork and paper, etc.