PARADOX MILESTONES

7 pulp painting constructions with wrapped word ellipses,

48" x 48" x 3”, 2019.

Milestones were specifically designed as a sequence of 8 images. Words received from over 100 participants who answered a question “Milestones for Hope” are embedded, printed or wrapped around the ellipses in the works. The ellipses are a reference to the shape of a satellite disc that receives information. The various found algorithms from all the participants are hand applied to create each construction as a unique work, some even distorted in shrinkage of the paper, rather than editioned by a uniform print media. The sequence of the images goes from flat to dimensional distortion, to purposefully illustrate the environmental changes found in nature - such as oil spills, dried riverbeds, and water desecration. One construction with dense collages words and an uneven ellipse, and another featuring an implied lasso for social danger, are the last two in the series.

I recently remembered how I used the ellipse shape in earlier work. During a Fulbright residency in Norway I saw Rune stones and transferred some of their markings to a blue oval stone in a large etching, not consciously understanding why. I called the etching “Brahmananda”. The next year in India I experienced the washing ritual of lingam stones in various temples. In Sanskrit, Linga means a "mark" or a symbol, which points to an inference. Thus the Shiva Linga found in many Hindu temples is a symbol of Lord Shiva, in its formlessness, and in an unmistakable language of silence.

The ellipse reminds me of those sacred stones, or garlands of flowers, and the power of sound in silence. In the ellipses in the Paradox Milestone series, I have wrapped each one with words to hang in front of a large work in paper. The ellipse shape can offer healing, data from the words collected from many voices, or in the case of the large transparent yellow one in Milestone # 6, it represents the mask worn to ward off a dangerous virus.