Exhibitions

I had a body of work prepared to exhibit in 2020 for this very space. Like everything else, this changed when Covid 19 hit. The world seemed to stop, activities were put on hold indefinitely, and our globe learned to cope through masking and isolation, while some carried on as if nothing had happened at all.

The title, “Simply Not”, occurred to me early on during the two years it took me to prepare for this exhibition. As I began each new work, the early chaotic stages pushed me to ask and answer an endless string of questions which guided each mark, brushstroke, color, and shape. As each painting evolved, I realized how truly orchestrated and finely tuned it had become by the time I considered it finished.

From a global perspective, advances in transportation have greatly aided the transmission of deadly pathogens from one corner of the world to another.  With no boundaries or barriers, a flight, cruise ship or semi-truck can greatly speed the delivery of invisible viruses and bacteria to distant blood streams or nasal passages. Our world map through the perspective of microbes  is a new one. It is random, rearranged, and ambiguous. Points A and Z have merged.

In a post 9/11 world, the global war on terrorism influences our thinking and casts a perpetual shadow that is inescapable. We live in a state of disquietude. Amidst unspeakable events and traumas, we experience censored media, invasion of privacy in the name of heightened “homeland security,” eroded freedom of speech, and constant rhetoric serving the politics of fear.