March, 2017
Bifurcated sheets of free hung canvas with torn curling edges and large scale framed works on paper are layered with calligraphic drawing, acrylic, pastel, collage and photo transfers.
The photo transfers and drawing document existing circumstances that reveal the tenuous survival of our cultural heritage threatened by dramatic environmental change. Images include remains of civilizations such Angkor/ Cambodia, obliterated most probably by a drastic environmental shift such as El Niño now threatened by the virulent jungle growth. Another focuses the tenuous survival of the North Sea island preserved by carefully nurtured, stunningly beautiful sand dunes.. Both framed works on paper and free hanging canvases with torn curling edges are collaged with rubble that communicates with tactile sensibility.
Others document the South Bronx waterfront, abandoned and deteriorating rotting tenants of piers and city waste transfer stations and simultaneously suggest the potentially beautiful open vistas with fresh air now inaccessible to the residents of the South Bronx.
Using relics of ancient civilizations layered with images of current environments besieged with virulent plant growth, raging waves and flood waters this work challenges academic mythology of nature and archaic ruins and engages the apocalyptic possibilities inherent in current relationships between humans, industrial development and our tenuous eco systems.
4ft wide cross-cut sections of 200 year-old trees felled in Woodlawn cemetery by the hurricane “Sandy” are posed with the torn curling edges of canvas panels collaged with with fluid calligraphic drawing and laser photo-transfers. Materials, image and text reflect the powerful forces and fragility of the current environment and the near eradication of ancient civilizations: e.g. the flooding of Thailand’s ancient city, Ayutaya, excavation of Caral from Peru's desert sands, and powerful roots, nourished by plentiful sun and rain, strangling the ancient temples of Angkor, Cambodia.
