Reverb Series
My Reverb Series draws inspiration from Baudelaire’s poem, “Correspondences”, in particular its concepts of a forest of symbols and synesthesia. Synesthesia is a phenomenon where one sensation triggers another, such as hearing a color and seeing a sound. Each print in the series resonates with a unique melody for me, based on its size, its colors, and the marks upon its surface.
Suspended throughout a site, my prints create an environment that sensitizes the viewer to his or her surroundings as light, reflection, sound, as well as the prints themselves shift and reverberate in response to the viewer’s movements. The artworks are organic yet geometric, kinetic yet static, marred yet precious, unique yet repetitive, seemingly fragile yet sturdy.
My motifs are patterned after fungi, rocks, wood, textiles, and calligraphy. I distort these elements by employing unnatural scales, materials, and various printmaking processes. I then arrange them in a way that highlights their structural similarities and irregular syncopations. Each print is unique, but closely related to the others in structure, composition, and repeated imagery. Most of them are two-sided and evolve through layers of gilding, printing, patinization, waxing, drawing, and scraping. Finally, I allow each piece to finish itself as its wax and metal react to its environment. My intent is to direct attention to the complexity and the constant change of the environment, and to the way we interact with it through our reordering of its space and shape.
Nature is a temple where living colonnades
Sometimes let escape confused words;
Man passes among symbolic glades
Which observe him with familiar regards.
Like dwindling echoes gathered far away
Into a tenebrous and profound unison,
Vast as the night and as the day,
The scents, the colors, and the sounds meet as one.
There are odors as fresh as the skin of an infant,
Sweet as oboes, green as prairies,
–And others, corrupted, rich, and triumphant,
Having the expansion of infinite things,
Like amber, musk, benzoin, and frankincense,
Which sing the ecstasies of the soul and of the senses.
La Nature est un temple où de vivants piliers
Laissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles;
L’homme y passe à travers des forêts de symboles
Qui l’observent avec des regards familiers.
Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent
Dans une ténébreuse et profonde unité,
Vaste comme la nuit et comme la clarté,
Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent.
Il est des parfums frais comme des chairs d’enfants,
Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies,
–Et d’autres, corrompus, riches et triomphants,
Ayant l’expansion des choses infinies,
Comme l’ambre, le musc, le benjoin, et l’encens,
Qui chantent les transports de l’esprit et des sens.
Media: Relief print, intaglio, wax grattage, frottage, lithograph, painting and drawing on gilded mulberry paper and Gampi Shi paper, with steel tiles
Sizes: variable
Media: Wax grattage, painting, relief print, frottage, and drawing on mulberry and Gampi Shi papers, with ceramic tiles
Sizes: Courante, 60″ h x 11″ w; Tranquillo, 78″ h x 20″ w; Rondo, 74″ h x 38″ w
Media: Relief prints on copper-gilded paper, ceramic tiles
Sizes: Untitled, 90″ h x 26″ w; Con Fuoco, 60″ h x 26″ w, Con Brio, 61 1/2″ h x 26″ w
I named Fantasie after a type of improvisational musical composition that emphasizes imagination…
Media: Wax grattage, relief print, frottage, and drawing on aluminum-gilded mulberry paper
Size: 60” h x 15” w
Canon is named for a type of music that is composed of multiple parts based on one melody. Canon has three parts–Gavotte, Bourrée, and Courante—that I created from different sections of the same piece of writing.
Media: Wax grattage and painting on aluminum-gilded mulberry paper
Size: each 60” h x 11” w
An Aubade is a morning song inspired by the natural world, often characterized by a quiet, idyllic quality.
Media: Relief print, lithograph, and rubbing on copper-gilded mulberry paper
Size: 77 1/2” h x 20” w
A serenade is a musical composition intended to be performed in the early evening. The title refers to the serene, waltz-like rhythm I see in the calligraphic text that loops over half of the print…
Media: Etching and relief print on aluminum-gilded mulberry paper
Size: 72” h x 18 1/4” w
A nocturne, in the realm of music, is a composition meant to be performed during the late hours of the night. The title of this piece alludes to the tranquil, waltz-like rhythm that I perceive in the calligraphic text gracefully looping across the print…
Materials: Etching and relief print on aluminum-gilded mulberry paper
Size: 72” h x 15” w
Con Fuoco, meaning with fire, is a musical term directing a musician to play a phrase in an impetuous or fiery way…
Media: Relief print on copper-gilded mulberry paper
Size: 60” h x 26” w
Con Brio is named for a musical term directing one to play with spirit…
Media: Relief print on copper-gilded mulberry paper
Size: 61 1/2” h x 26” w
I named Rondo after a musical form in which the main theme is repeated…
Media: Relief print, frottage, and drawing on Gampi Shi paper
Size: 74” h x 38” w