Unison, 52”h x 30-1/2”w, Sumi ink on kozo paper, 2000

Inklings Series

This work was begun in 1996, ensuing the death of my sister. The process centered on physical activity as a catharsis for unwieldy emotions, and repetition to divide and examine cryptic wholes. These are works of inconspicuous beginnings, of division and recombination (rend and mend), an orderly accrual of incidentals, intrusions and inklings. All are of handmade papers, most torn (some into more than a thousand pieces) and reconstituted into different configurations. From beginning to end, the creation of these pieces demanded a kind of obsessive commitment.

Reflection on death has proven integrally bound to a consideration of life. The division and recombination involved with growth-that of cells, our bodies, our families, or our universe—remains unpredictable and mysterious, with random variables tenaciously subverting the austerity of the ordered scheme.

In these pieces, the organic nature of the paper itself challenges the perfection of the structured composition. The initial size of the paper plays a role in determining the scale of repeated elements, yet the final form is without predetermination, greatly dependent on distortions and tensions caused by cumulative irregularities. Torn edges and anomalies recall natural procedures that relate back to the body and to personal experience—to the need to touch, feel, and mess with one's own hands. The traces of physical processes affirm the role of the individual as foil to a dispassionate ideal.

Following traditions such as haiku verse, this group presents a series of visual metaphors for the incomprehensible, random forces of life set within a rational system of implied order.