Top Pick - The Washington Times
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“Meditation: Fruit”
2005 - Oil on paper - 25" x 19"
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AT AGE FIVE I wanted so much to write that I pestered an older
playmate into teaching me. When I was seven, I took apart a little paper umbrella
to find a tiny roll of Japanese newspaper inside. As I unrolled it, the magical
characters were clearly trying to tell me something, but what? I ran to my
parents and was told that only a Japanese person could read what it said. I
daydreamed about a little girl my age on the other side of the world who could
read and understand the tantalizing text. How I longed to know what it said!
Meanwhile, the angular characters, lined up like little soldiers, spoke to
me of an exotic world that sparked my imagination. This began a life-long fascination
with the written word.
AFTER YEARS OF STUDYING classical Western writing, I began to explore the possibilities
of writing as an expressive art. The moving lines and the shapes they leave in
their wake work together to speak a new language. Like lines of music, they can
express all that is human. These paintings show what words do on their day off.
By its very nature, writing implies communication between one person and another,
and so it is compelling — we long to know what it says, even if the meaning
is just out of reach. Even if we cannot literally read it, writing can speak
to us in a way beyond words, causing us to “read” the text in a new
way.
ARTISTS HAVE ALWAYS PAINTED THEIR SURROUNDINGS. Today we are surrounded by words that state facts; that demand something from us. I paint words that allow for wonder and mystery.