A group of monotypes and digital prints, the series, presented in a grid approximately 19 feet long by 7.5 feet high, is comprised of 57 individual works on paper. When seen together, it chronicles the story of my family’s journey from Eastern Europe to America in 1910 to escape Anti-Semitism, of the promise of America as a safe haven for refugees seeking religious freedom, of the role my family played in protecting these freedoms during World War II, and ultimately, of the broken promise we are now seeing take hold with the rise of xenophobia, nationalism and anti-semitism in Trump’s America. I began this project a day or so after 11 Jews were killed at the Tree of life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and have named it “Tree of Life.”
My Mom passed away several years ago and I found myself thinking a lot about the origins of life and the fact that all life comes from the water. I remember spending time with my parents at Lake Massapoag and being mesmerized by the schools of fish that would swim by as I waded in the water. The site of hundreds of silver shards swimming by delighted me, as did the idea that it was called a “school” of fish. The guppies were not just left on their own, but were schooled in the art of survival by their mother. I took comfort in that, even at a young age.
I really wanted to move back even further and ponder the science that goes into the creation of life and all its mysteries. I found myself thinking about seeds, pods, amoebae, and placenta. Of course, I didn’t take an academic approach to this but rather, I let my mind wander…
Germination, pollination, taking hold and growing. My Dad was a furniture maker. He worked with his hands, and transformed wood into beautiful and useful objects. He was a builder and this series reflects the idea of layering shapes to create structures that support life and growth. Home, perhaps.
The themes of procreation continued into this series, and it became more autobiographical. No longer just showing seedlings as a symbol of birth and rebirth, I’v begun incorporating a figure that I suppose is me as a young boy. Its also the first time that numbers appear in the work.
I began exploring numbers as symbols for the various themes i’ve been exploring. Each number has a specific meaning, but the number of numbers, and the pacing between the numbers does as well. I also began creating symbols and totems that explore the idea of home, family, duty…influenced by Jewish artists such as Chagall and Saul Steinberg. Subconsciously.
Having witnessed the 2016 elections and again the 2018 midterms, i’m proposing that there may be better way of making decisions. Maybe kids had it right when using “rock, paper scissors.”
A series of 96 small monotypes meant to be viewed in a grid, these mono prints are based on photos of rocks I found one morning on Hay Beach in Shelter Island, and that I then shot like little Barbara Hepworth sculptures.
I tried to maintain the same spontaneity in the prints as I did in the photographs.
This series was done for a proposal for a not-for profit educational institution. It illustrates the methodology I developed in my branding business that leads to the creation of a brand identity. But its also symbolic of any iterative process, which monotype itself is, and so I have always loved these based on their own merits.
Ive been collecting Mid- Century Scandinavian ceramics since the days they could be picked up at the flea market for a song. I am attracted not just to their shapes, but to the compositions they make when placed together, and the space between. Although most of the vases I collect are arguably phallic if you listen to Dr. Freud, they are also vessels, and I enjoy exploring the dichotomy and intersection between the two. I was also exploring the flattening of the picture plane with a nod to Diebenkorn…
Inspired by the work of designer Verner Panton, the motif of the circle within the square took on deeper meaning as a symbol of male/ female identity, and sexual ambiguity where role assignment does not always correspond to how one feels inside, playing off of the cliche of a a square peg in a round hole
