Bella Morte.

Acrylic, gouache, ink on linoleum, 12″ X 12″ (each).

This piece was conceived on a cold, rainy day in the magic city within a 3 week period. I witnessed the demise of a relatively small, simple and elusive creature. It got me thinking about the state of things and the irony of our inevitability. I hit on the idea of death as a transformation rather than an end, and beauty existing even in the breakdown of the final procession of this journey. The idea of having a chance at spiritual rebirth; like a phoenix from the ashes. I think Joseph Campbell called it “the awakening of awe.”

Roots.

Acrylic and gouache on canvas,  24″ X 48″. 

This quadryptic was made in approximately 3 weeks. I was spending a great deal of time in the woods. While I was there I was totally overwhelmed by the paradoxical beauty of all the Strangler Figs around. The idea of the symbiotic relationships that practically all living things seem to share. But rather than reproducing images of the forest itself,  I wanted to recreate what I felt; the sheer joy of liveliness that I found there!