Eternal Narrative

Medium: Monotype

Soft Borders

This piece is in response to the current political administration who thinks that building walls will solve border problems. No country in history that built walls to keep others out or in lasted. Tax payer money could be much better spent to bring more “value” to the country and to those at and across the border.  Maybe the wall idea is for boosting temporary construction jobs or future tourists who will pay to see the wall and not for addressing real border problems.

Medium: Lithograph & Metal Pigment Monotype

Blue Ink Series IV

The color blue signifies tranquility and balance for the mind and body. It is also associated with depth, stability, trust, intelligence, and loyalty. To watch blue ink fall through water is mesmerizing.

Medium: Lithograph

The Hungry Ghost

The hungry ghost is a buddhist concept akin to what we may call the unchecked ego. It is a part of the self that is never satisfied and can rear its ugly head to express disappointment when the desire is not met. Since it is starving all the time to satiate desires it becomes greedy, jealous, angry, judgmental, infidel, to name a few ugly feelings and behaviors. Traditional representations of the hungry ghost depict a human like figure with a long skinny neck and big belly. I chose to depict the hungry ghost personified in a jack rabbit along side its hungry ghost.

The hungry ghost is very alive in our world today …

Medium: Silk Thread, Chine Colle, Monotype

Return to Life

I threaded the delicate bones of cicada over a drawing of a female to suggest the revival of her life after a tragic event.

“The Cicada is an ancient polyvalent symbol: resounding themes are resurrection, immortality, and spiritual realization.”

The female in the drawing looks back to reflect upon a tragic event depicted by a car crash. I continued the thread over the car crash frames to connect the two events. The three frames are taken from a stop frame animation of a match box car crash I staged in Washington Square Park many years ago.  Tragic events disrupt life similar to the way death disrupts life. We plunge into reflection, darkness, and even depression as we come to terms with the meaning of the event. It may take several years before we are repaired and resurface to continue with life anew. Just as the cicada lays dormant in the ground for seven years before returning to the surface so do we remain buried in our thoughts before climbing out of darkness to meet the light.

Along with the thread and the blood-vein like shape, there is a warm female shadow that also connects the two events. It is the soul that undergoes the spiritual transformation in the body. Here, at this moment, it could be her soul that is ready to help make the transition to return to life.