Christoph and Nicole

oil on panel, 21" x 25" and charcoal on paper, 18" x 24"

Here is another self-portrait, this time a painting and a drawing with my husband. The painting came first. It owes something to Charlotte Salomon (see links). The painting has the figures fused with a mountainous landscape while the drawing gives little reference for place.

In the drawing, I imposed the interlocking rings I have been using in other paintings over our heads, here reminders of wedding rings and marriage. Our son has been studying venn diagrams at school and I noticed that my image is one of sorts. "A venn diagram is a diagram used to divide up two or more objects to view similarities and differences. " - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram It is unlike Picasso's Girl Before a Mirror at the MOMA (a painting with lots of rings) in that there are two figures here and they retain their separate identities. http://blog.chosun.com/web_file/blog/438/5938/1/picasso-Girl-Before-a-Mirror_small.jpg While there isn't a mirror in the picture, the mutual gaze relates to the psychological idea of "mirroring."

In the drawing, we do not seem to be gazing exactly into each other's eyes. I think Christoph is looking a bit outward while I seem to look a bit inward. Perhaps we don't always see eye-to-eye, but we have enough common ground to make a solid unit and to complement one another.

Tug of War (Letting Go)

22" x 24", oil on canvas, 2006. Thanks to Rob S. for his post regarding Tug of War (Mass Grave II). It gave me the idea for this one. I liked his response that one can always let go. Sometimes the struggle, competition, and desire for the goal are so intense that letting go does not even cross one's mind as an option. This goes beyond the game, of course, and can apply to many things aside from war. That is what is great about art; a specific concept can reveal itself to be a common thread to diverse areas in life.

The hands in the picture seem to express a shock of realization, as if they are surprised to be letting go of the rope. They have a relationship with the figures, whose "v" shaped legs reflect the fingers. There is something here about being an individual and belonging to a group. The three figures are on the same team, but at a distance, their individuality is diminished. The hands are a pair to just one person, but the fingers are actors here, in rows, parts belonging to a whole. They are also all made out of red lines, like the umbilical cord rope; blood is at stake while the same human blood runs through all.

The visual syntax is distilled; the end of the rope looks like a thumbnail, color is reduced, description is secondary to the action. The hands also seem like wings, almost forming the shape hands make for a bird shadow puppet. Letting go is freeing.