These composition studies explore the twin concept of depersonalization and derealization,
a syndrome resulting from the anxiety of trauma where one is detached
from their own body, and feel they move through experience in a
dream-like state.
Sketch for... Lean on me
(These drawings are light and not easy to photograph, thanks for clicking on the image to get a better look.)
Eve Ensler (creator of the Vagina Monologues) has an excellent podcast on the topic, which I found on Maria Popova's Brainpickings.
As I explore compositions in the studio, I realize how easily I gravitate toward collage. The versatile interplay of shapes and textures is a good match for my mood on many days. I love taking disparate or cast-off things and making them into something new. But, I've also realized lately that I continue to return to making my own paper dolls. I can find many references from older work where I have carefully drawn, cut-out and characterized figures in simple scenes.
Yet, when I embark on a new series, I don't think, 'I'd like to do silhouetted shapes again, like I did back then'. It starts to happen intuitively and ... then I think, 'Oh - I did it again'. My recent return to cut-out figures is, I suppose, partially about control and the strong impulse to play the mastermind behind this theatre of forms.
Left: Emerse or Drown, Gold leaf and acrylic on wood. 2006, Mallorca Spain.
Right: Chain Reaction, Detail of unique artist book. papers, gesso. 1994, Massachusetts USA
Left: Curtains, Gallery installation, wood, ink on silk. 1995, Thesis show at Mass College of Art, Boston, USA
Out of body experience drawings.
