Developing a new language of abstraction

Ever since creating abstract collages in 2011 as a response to the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactor caused by a massive earthquake, I have been fascinated with the creation of visual abstract languages. I explored color and shape in both the “Space/Time” and “Meditations on the Square” monotype series. In my most recent body of work, utilizing mixed media etched wood panels, I focused on how the world around us offers amazing opportunities for exciting visual abstractions representing a deep link between our own microcosm and the magnificence of the cosmos.
This new work started with visual explorations of that most abstract of arts, Jazz. A commission about synesthesia initiated my attempts to use color and form to approximate what I felt from this radical music. This year I started drawing with colored pencil and graphite on various papers, distilling my earlier explorations into a more cohesive vocabulary. The drawing process was essential to this process due to its immediacy and simplicity. I continue down that path, bringing in collage alongside the drawing, eager to see where this will lead.