2010: Turk Work
Tulips originated in Turkey, not Holland, and the tulip is the symbol of Istanbul, second only to carnations in the number of places it is represented. When I returned from Istanbul, I knew that the works I wanted to create for my show at Artane the following summer were going to be based on those amazing tulip and carnation designs seen painted in such seductively styled ways on ceramics and fiercely abstracted in carpet designs. I also knew that my new works would be hybrid in nature: that they would be on paper and would use various printmaking techniques (screen printing, stencils, stamps) that allowed for me to make repeatable elements (both with complex geometric mathematically-based designs and flower abstractions derived from Turkish carpet motifs) ; and that they would use painting (water-based acrylics, guaches), water colors and inks) and even drawing here and there for good measure. I had already bought a dozen old wooden fabric dye-stamps in the Grand Bazaar and had taken lots of photos of as many tiles and carpets that had tulip, carnation and general garden motifs I could find so I came back to the studio running. Within a month, I had created and carved over 50 stamps out, made 12 screens and numerous stencils so I went to town "painting" with my printing tools. I wanted to combine the rigid elements of the geometric designs with the more fluid elements of the flower motifs, in part, because I see Istanbul as a place were literally the West meets the East in a type of odd harmony. Below you can see examples of some of my stamps that I was testing and grouping. You can also see that a type of visual entropy quickly moved into my aesthetics as I quickly moved from a more harmonic sacred geometric feel in the work to an asymmetrical free-form of dense clustering of forms. UNFORTUNATELY, as I was in the middle of working on this new and exciting project, I found out that the gallery was going to close that year so that meant my exhibition would happen. I put all of these works in-progress on hold and never showed any of them.....waiting for the right time to get back to them.
