RANCOR & DISCORD

Language and communication, both verbal and symbolic, have long intrigued me. So have music and color. They are all actually one and the same with their common ability to express something uniquely human.

Over the past thirty years I have created my own distinct visual calligraphy, a personal language of shapes and colors. My work has evolved using them to convey my artistic thoughts and ideas. Like Aboriginal dreamtime paintings, these symbols connote people, experiences, histories and events, and make spiritual and social statements in the process.

An outgrowth of the series “At the Table” in which I sought to represent the energy that takes place at a typical gathering of friends and family, “Rancor & Discord” is a reaction to the 2016 election cycle. It explores the rancorous and discordant nature into which civil discourse disintegrates. Words become imperious, overbearing shapes colliding rather than connecting, bombarding rather than bridging. Color laden shapes claw their way through and strike the senses harshly. Like too much cigarette smoke, they fill the conversational spaces to the point of asphyxiation.”

Techniques and materials include linocut, chine-colle, collage, Xerox transfer, acrylic and gouache on Arches paper. All framed pieces are27”W x 37”H x 2”D.