Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself,
I am large, I contain multitudes.
—Walt Whitman
The work in this show is about the past and the present, what is visible and what is not, what is lost and what remains. Between my last show in 2015 and this one, I turned 70. Being very absorbed in the issue of aging mindfully and artfully, I decided to engage in a life review, both emotional and visual. This process has resulted in the multitude of voices you see here, representing different aspects of myself and varied life experiences. It is, in effect, a group show where I am the group.
In order to depict an array of life experiences and sensibilities, I have utilized a variety of styles and media—some that I’ve used for many years (e.g., acrylic, encaustic, collage) and some with which I’m newly experimenting (e.g., oil and cold wax). Most of the pieces in this show portray some aspect of my history, where each piece is a small part of the whole. In some cases, the work is particular to me (e.g., Washed Away where I depict the experience of sand and water washing away the name of my brother after his death), whereas in others, it is more generally resonant (e.g., Size Matters which represents the more universal struggle we face as we place ourselves relative to the others in our lives).
While much of this work makes reference to the past, the Meditation Series is very much of the present. Each encaustic painting in this series shares a number of components (e.g., palette, medium, structure), and each has embedded either natural or humanly constructed elements. I was happily going along exploring one variation after another when the 2016 election occurred. When I resumed these meditations, they had turned dark and ominous. Because of space limitations, I have chosen to omit the dark meditations from this show.
As always, my work both reflects and expresses human experience in all its beautiful imperfection. The layers of paint and materials, as well as the irregularly constructed surfaces, suggest the sometimes nuanced, sometimes obvious, and ever-changing complexity in which we live and which lives in each of us.
