"We are constantly looking at still and video images through compressed formats, on smaller screens, on shrinking devices. I invert the approach to current media, by enlarging the minuscule detail of compressed imagery to a point of beautiful abstract distortion.
By breaking the image el... Read more
“We are constantly looking at still and video images through compressed formats, on smaller screens, on shrinking devices. I invert the approach to current media, by enlarging the minuscule detail of compressed imagery to a point of beautiful abstract distortion.
By breaking the image elements into enlarged color tiles, I strive to create two levels of viewing. I experiment with pulling the eye of the viewer back and forth between the sterile smoothness of tiles and the composed depth of the lit portrait. It is a mediation of human emotion and experience contained from the perspective of digital age. My subjects, who are poets – parse the human experience into measures of words, sounds, images.
The portraits are large in scale, evoking sacred items to be viewed with a sense of awe and wonder. One thinks of stained glass windows in cathedrals; upon close examination, the exquisite tiles break the image into astounding squares of colored glass. The abstract color tiles invite the viewer to explore the surface texture of the image. When you take a step back, the image becomes whole, the work illuminated, shining light on its subjects – poetry of itself." – Steven Sebring
Special performance by Patti Smith at the opening reception.
