the one and the only Collage

In many ways my work is about the process. I have an idea and I give myself specific tasks to complete. Once the tasks are complete, the piece is finished. This way of working is particularly true with my striped paintings. For example, in a piece I am currently working on, darkness & light, the task was to complete 33 canvases of darkness and 33 canvases of light. The darkness canvases are painted with only blue and black ink. The light canvases are painted using only white and blue ink. Each canvas will have 33 layers of ink. The technique I use to paint these canvases, and all my stripe paintings, is to draw a line of ink with a pen or brush, and then drag the ink across the canvas with a ruler. In order to keep the pieces uniform, all 33 pieces in the set must have one color painted with this technique in one session. When I create a piece with multiple canvases, using this technique, each canvas is similar and works as a group. Dragging the ink across the canvas allows for unplanned variations and the multiple layers give the stripped paintings depth. The rhythm of the stripes and the futility of the effort lend to the meaning of the work. The hope is that the viewer will have a contemplative experience. Most of my work uses multiple canvases or panels. And, although the pieces are 2-D, I consider each piece as an object. The sides of the canvas and the width of the canvas or panel are important elements of each piece. In many of the pieces I use gold paper or gold leaf. The gold gives the piece an aura and the pieces glow when the lit from above. (This idea is hard to capture in one straight on photo.) The number of objects used to make up a single piece lends to the meaning. Communication or communicating is a theme in my work especially in the collages. I use words, numbers, and symbols to give visual hints. Morse Code is an important element in many of my pieces. Morse Code’s geometric shapes add beauty to the work, but it is also a universal way of communicating and gives the viewer something to decipher. What I’m trying to convey in a collage may be encrypted or may be nonsense.