I have always worked in series. I produce ten or more paintings exploring the same basic concept and theme. Past series have focused on subjects of legend or on bygone mundane experiences. I explore the effect of collective memory on culture and seek its root. No matter the theme, the technical focus of my work has constantly investigated the relationship of texture and shape against the plane by using thick application of paint and mixed media to achieve something new. Over the past seven years I have been painting in a style that I call “sculpting with paint”. I have developed a technique applying the paint in thin streams of color, gradually building up the surface to render my subjects.
The past two series of paintings were based on the legends and mythology of the Old Testament. I taught myself to read Hebrew so that I could identify specific text and research the folktales surrounding a particular story. Each painting was executed in deference to the source material. The subject of each painting was drawn form the prescribed reading called the parashah, or portion being studied the week the painting began. I wove iconographic symbolism into each image to reference folk tales or commentary. When I felt I had completed the series of paintings I carved woodcut copies of each image. I printed the woodcuts and bound them into books with text printed in both Hebrew and English, citing the source of the story along with the accompanying folk tales.
I used only the finest materials to produce the books. I hand bound the books in calf leather. I bound an edition of five books for the series “Legends of Tanakh”. It contains thirteen images of the thirteen original paintings with the described texts and is accompanied by a matching slipcase. The second book “Birds of the Sky” is an edition of ten books. Once again, woodcut copies of the original paintings were carved and printed. This time I hand colored the prints using archival inks. Copper plates are inlaid into the back covers, while the title is rendered in raised letters on the front. Hand carved cedar presentation boxes accompany this edition. The entire product was produced entirely by my hand.
I am now working on a new series. This series differs from the previous two in subject matter and media. It differs in medium in that I am using canvas rather than board as a ground, and I do not incorporate copper into the images. In subject matter it differs in the texts that are consulted; it is drawn solely from legends surrounding the experience of the crypto-Jewish pioneers of colonial New Mexico. As with my previous two explorations, this series will culminate in a book of prints. This will be a children’s book containing a single narrative. This work must be seen in person to be truly appreciated. It is tactile and invites the viewer to touch it. One of the main reasons I produced the books is the intimacy made possible by holding and touching a work of art.
