Images from Isolation
October 2021-January 2022
Artist Talk Saturday December 4, 2021
11am-1pm
This exhibit is comprised of six separate, but related, series. It encompasses the period of 23 months from October, 2019 to August, 2021, and includes nearly all of the work that I produced during those months. The six series, taken together, present a disjointed narrative of the isolation imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic and the urge to keep soldiering on in one’s aesthetic pursuits in spite of the uncertainty and foreboding and feelings of disconnection from much of what we still fondly recall as “normalcy”.
The first series began in Autumn of 2019, when we were still unaware aware of the coming pandemic. It begins with musings about the creative process, the urge to strive toward ideas larger than ourselves (‘reaching for the moon”), and the difficulties and rewards of that striving for meaning. As winter waned, and spring arrived bearing the global pandemic, the series began to reflect my thoughts about isolation, aging, mortality, and acceptance of the inevitable.
The second series, titled “Aviary”, includes ten drawings of birds with human hands in place of feet. I have always envied birds for their ability to fly, and so I wondered, “Do they in turn envy us our opposable thumbs?” These birds assume the role of actors, performing human characters both fine and foolish. I began the series as an entertaining distraction from both the pandemic and political realities, but both of those still managed to sneak in from time to time.
Series three, titled “Nocturnes”, consists of three images (so far) of figures floating in blissful slumber. As world events unfolded and feelings of isolation increased, “insomnia” began to top the list of most frequently Googled terms. This series reflects my longing for deep, refreshing sleep.
Four drawings followed quickly after the Nocturnes: “ Artifacts of Mysterious Origin and Indeterminate Purpose”, “ Weary”, “Civil War”, and “You Are Old, Father William”. I have grouped them under the title “Outliers”, and each of them, I think, can speak for itself.
Series five is titled “Toy Story”. It began as a submission to an exhibit on that theme at Mystery Print Gallery in Pinedale, and continued of its own volition to include fourteen paintings so far, thirteen of which are included here. The first few of these images are sweet, if somewhat wistful, but the mood becomes more uneasy and surreal as the series progresses.
The sixth and last series I call “Drawing Blanks”. This group of drawings revisits the themes of a series I did nearly 50 years ago, in grad school. The drawings constitute an examination of the drawing process, and the layers of meaning inherent in making drawings about the act of drawing. When the pencil is introduced, caught in the act, the drawing becomes its own self-portrait.
Each series, as it nears its resolution, suggests another direction, and each new series overlaps its predecessor a bit, chronologically. Taken as a whole, they provide the tracks of my thinking and feeling and imagining my way through a uniquely challenging period in our recent history.