Graphic legend/statement presented with all paintings in the “Imagery of Words, Part 1” series. In addition to placing the paintings in a literary context, it shows how the forms result from a rigorous process that creates a spatial model of the alphabetic relations in the spelling of words (see About Page). Media is inkjet pigment print (size: 8.5 x 11 inches when presented with paintings having 30 x 30 inch panels; 12 x 16 inches when presented with paintings having 44 x 44 inch panels).
In the paintings below, both the form and color are an expression of the alphabetic patterning of words in the image above (see About Page)
“Imagery of Words, Part 1, #3 (Perfect Edge)” 2023. Acrylic on two 30 x 30 inch canvases on wooden stretchers. Presented with 8.5 x 11 inch legend/statement–inkjet pigment print on paper mounted on wood panel (shown at top of page).
“Imagery of Words, Part 1, #4 (Unknown Extent)” 2023. Acrylic on two 30 x 30 inch canvases on wooden stretchers. Presented with 8.5 x 11 inch legend/statement–inkjet pigment print on paper mounted on wood panel (shown at top of page).
“Imagery of Words, Part 1, #5 (Random Shapes)” 2023. Acrylic on two 44 x 44 inch canvases on wooden stretchers. Presented with 12 x 16 inch legend/statement–inkjet pigment print on paper mounted on wood panel (shown at top of page).
“Imagery of Words, Part 1, #6 (Discombobulated Correspondences)” 2023. Acrylic on two 44 x 44 inch canvases on wooden stretchers. Presented with 12 x 16 inch legend/statement–inkjet pigment print on paper mounted on wood panel (shown at top of page).
“Imagery of Words, Part 1, #7 (Chaotic Beauty)” 2023. Acrylic on two 44 x 44 inch canvases on wooden stretchers. Presented with 12 x 16 inch legend/statement–inkjet pigment print on paper mounted on wood panel (shown at top of page).
The paintings shown below are examples of earlier variations of the process of creating word-generated colors
“TRACED” 2017 and a detail of two panels (Mystifyingly Aware) of the 15 panel painting. The form and color is a result of the alphabetic relations of the words, but unlike the “Imagery of Words” series, the color of the wide line and center line were created by rotating the alphabetic color wheel the distance of one vowel position (see bottom of About Page), which results in different colors generated by the same word. Also the color process was changed slightly in the later paintings. The 15 panels are each 24 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panels. The paintings is hung with each row of 5 paintings spaced slightly apart. The painting is shown installed in a 2017 Retrospective presented by New Arts Program
“NEVER SHAPES TOMORROW” 2013–The first painting to explore the process of creating word-generated colors. (acrylic on gypsum board, 13 x 39 feet).
The works shown below are exhibited examples of works in the ongoing project that have taken form in various media.
HENGE OF LIGHT & LANGUAGE, an intermedia installation (2018-2020). Details: floor component (upper-left), wall component (lower-left). An excerpt of the sequence of images displayed on the wall component is shown in the other photos. The spelled-form of the word Curled is shown with an illustration of the type of shell-bead that provided evidence language was in use over 100,000 years ago. The spelled-form of the word Core is shown with an illustration of a 77,000-year-old piece of red-ochre pigment with an abstract marking scratched into it (from Blombos Cave, Africa). The spelled-form of Flat is overlaid on a prehistoric disk-bead from a much later period. The spelled-form of Edge is shown with an illustration of a hand axe (and a detail of its edge) from the Middle Stone Age.
Details of a 2017 retrospective (1980-2017) presented by New Arts Program.
Above-left: SPOKE OF THE WHEEL, a collaboration with choreographer Nell Green and Portland Ballet Company, premiered at John Ford Theater in 2006 (photo: Justin Day). Above-right: details of ALIGNMENTS, a solo exhibition (mixed-media installation) presented in 2006 at Galeria AT, Academy of Fine Art, Poznan, Poland.
Study for LIGNS, 2003 (ink on card) shown in a 2004 retrospective (1982-2004) at Rosenwald Gallery, University of Pennsylvania..
Above-left: REGULAR LINEAR AXIAL CHAOS, a 2004 wall installation (mixed-media) in “Poetic Positions” at the Kassel Art Museum (Kassler Kunstverein). Above-right: CURLED ON STONE (engraved stone) from the solo exhibition/installation “ProtoType” at New Arts Program, 2000.
Above-left: SHADES OF MEANING #3 (Inexplicable), mixed media on hinged masonite, exhibited in a 1993 solo exhibition at the University of Massachusetts/ Lowell. Above-right: ORIGIN OF GEOMETRY, a mixed-media wall installation in “Text Out of Context: Leah Durner, Glenn Ligon, Bruce Pavlow, Michael Winkler” at the Aldrich Museum’s Soho Center Gallery, New York, 1991.
Details of WORD WORKS (1985-86), an intermedia performance presented at New Music America’87 in Philadelphia.