Next Page: We The People

"Composition"
In this Series, I aim at uniting the Outer -- collages, wax ribbons, etc.-- with the Inner -- the movement of the paint, the colors and the composition, which reflect a mood, a feeling. In connecting two realms, the concrete and the abstract, I feel that two disparate aspects of reality become one, and the one that emerges is better than the sum of its parts.

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Composition I, 14" x 11"  SOLD
Composition II, 14" x 11"  SOLD

Composition III, 10-1/2" x 13-1/2"

Oil & collage

Composition IV, 14" x 11"

Oil & collage

Composition V, 14" x 11"  SOLD
"The World as Ground Zero"
Artist Statement

“I have always believed that artists, who live and work with spiritual values, cannot and should
not remain indifferent to a conflict in which the highest values of humanity and civilization are at stake.” Picasso

In The World as Ground Zero, I set out to express our shock and despair at all terrorist acts throughout the world. I wanted the art itself to physically BE the violence of terrorism – as much as the medium would allow. Hence, a collage, which entails cutting and tearing; burning and tearing of the canvas; metal sheets in uneven shapes symbolizing the structure of buildings, buses, cars destroyed. The outward canvas, roughly cut, opens up to show the chaos and the stark violence through the world’s open belly.

I avoided rigid and precise composition in order to express the chaos and destabilization of our lives and of our civilization that accompany acts of terrorism everywhere.

I see a parallel between Picasso’s Guernica and the wanton attacks on civilians the world over. Guernica was not a militarily strategic target, but a cultural symbol to its people. The Twin Towers were a symbol of the U.S., as well as a center of its finances. Guernica was attacked on a market day, where the most people would be killed. As in New York on September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, all over the world, target densely populated areas at times and places where there will be the most possible damage.

Picasso’s symbols of pain, despair, shock and terror are primal forms of expression and have a universal value. I have chosen to incorporate a few chosen images of his Guernica to both express these emotions and to underline the parallel between the attack on Guernica and those attacks by terrorists on civilians all over the world.

As in Guernica , The World as Ground Zero is in a flat black and white and grey. The only color – red – is sparingly used in the composition and the canvas itself. It symbolizes, in the Hebrew spelling of "Al Qua’eda," violence and blood – echoed in the victim’s banner – the American flag.

The World as Ground Zero is a labor of the heart. Although it has no peace in it, the fact that this reality is expressed through Art suggests the hope that all of Man’s expressions of true civilization and creativity will, eventually, overcome evil.
Eight views of this mixed media piece, 50'" H x 36'" W x 17.5" D


Left panel Click for enlargement

Collage, charcoal, oil
Right panel Click for enlargement
Top left panel closeup Click for enlargement Top right panel closeup Click for enlargement
Bottom left panel closeup Click for enlargement Bottom right panel closeup Click for enlargement


Front Panel Click for enlargement

Collage, oil, charcoal
Open view from left side Click for enlargement
SEE MORE MIXED MEDIA: We The People

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