FOLLOWING PALINDROME consists of 4 series
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Milagros, 2005
Influenced by Mexican Folk Art, these charms are thought to be intermediaries to the divine. Each charm or talisman is usually placed on an altar or next to a photo of a person needing to be healed. For example; those who are confused about their life path would purchase the foot to serve as a guide and incorporate it into a shrine. For me, the image and form of the devotional charm has evolved over time. This reveals that, the interesting aspect of the miracle is not the point at which one is “healed,” but rather when the physical surrenders to the divine and realizes that nothing needs to be attained; the miracle was there all the time.
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Episodic, 2006
I entered a phase of silence and stillness. I restricted the flow of stimulation my body received so I could hear the whispers of my emotions. The monochromatic palette reflects my spiritual understanding. As a result, these paintings are a strong deviation from the first series. As I became more comfortable in my body and observed my surroundings; helicopters and battleships became faint symbols of rescue and elevation. The bold vertical lines represent the interruption of my thoughts, like static on the radio. I refused to listen until I realized that static was not the trespasser, it was part of the message. My decisions, what I wanted to communicate to you the viewer had to be clear and strong enough to be felt over what I had already painted in the past.
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Doppelganger, 2007
I am fascinated by these hair spirals. They came from my body, but they have a life force of their own. The spiral has a beginning, and an end. The cyclical nature of life is captured by the hair which appears to be in motion, living through its own phases of growth and discovery. The hair itself is protection and aides healing, growing, for example, back around a wound as it heals. Sometimes I would find that two spirals are joined, or that two separate spirals overlap, I presented them that way on the canvas; I like the concept of two entities being one, joining and separating without breaking. My idea of a doppelganger is a love affair with this other entity. Like twins, an individual journey of self discovery clarifies and deepens the union when rejoined. Not a literal lover, this doppelganger is a part of me and therefore a part of the one I love, and over time I will see the truth in my lover/my twin - all of me.
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Palindromes, 2008
A palindrome can be a number, 22822, or a word, “level” or “radar.” A strand of DNA when read from one end is the same as the sequence of the complimentary strand read from the opposite end. It is the same thing backwards as it is forwards, with a common element at the center. But, to me a palindrome is also emotional, spiritual and ideological synchronicity. Unlike the doppelganger, opposition has nothing left to grasp. This connection, if found between two people creates a union of which only pure faith can exist as the centrifuge.
I painted a state in which restlessness and anxiety have no meaning or power, and the journey from pain to pleasure and back to pain has no purpose. I did not imagine the idea of a palindrome, I followed a finger -- something small and quiet, yet powerful when I was ready for the guidance. There is symmetry in love with my palindrome. I represented this love with the red-headed twins, symmetrical and synchronized, with God at the center. I can only describe the pure luxury of this love as God, or a breath that lasts thousands of miles.
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