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| Shocking Mixed/Paper 34.5 x 22 |
I am a mystery-lover. After all, isn't making a painting somewhat like solving a giant mystery? Each October, I have a bit of a film festival for myself....mysteries, thrillers, haunted houses and the like. Things that go bump in the night. Things that jar us away from the day-to-day, the status quo that can become ever-so-monotonous. When I hoisted the work "Shocking" onto its notch on the wall recently, I was reminded of how much fun it was to create this work. I assembled photos of shocked and surprised friends and family: my friend Concepcion, friend Brian and his two sons Oscar and Casper, son Seth and friend Cheryl who for many years, ran the now-defunct Brimfield Post Office. Cut linoleum blocks printed onto the paper's surface provided the "look" of a film strip. (which has indeed become an antiquity) The work continued by arranging faces and drawing with pastels in my favorite spooky colors. I tried to keep a vague darkness going on....as if these were faces in a darkened movie theater. My friends had fun posing for this work, I think. And I had a great deal of fun making it. "Shocking" is the title. I am slightly hidden in the upper right hand corner.
