Visual Dialogue
I have always felt that the arts express various ways to communicate. Our words or language seem to be the most common forms of communication. Often it is the way we put together words, to form ideas, beliefs, expressions and descriptions, which make our thoughts understood. I often feel this form of communication is not adequate. With this said, of course there are the poets that paint with words and perhaps take us to new levels of communication.
Words, sentences, paragraphs and books inspired these paintings. Like words of a sentence, the panels don’t form an idea until they are put together. They are meant to be read as a group or a paragraph. Like poetry they can be a vague idea and allow the audience to interpret their own ideas into the pieces.
These new artworks contain ashes from burned prayers. In my studio I have a burning bowl. My usual ritual is to write a prayer or thoughts and light it on fire from a burning candle and let it burn out in a ceramic bowl that I made for this purpose. The idea is releasing the idea and allowing it to rise like incense. The ashes from these burnt prayers are mixed into the paints to create these paintings creating a visual dialogue.