Nomads all 2001 to 2021
In the exhibit, ‘Nomads All’, I excerpted compositions Michelangelo’s fresco, “Last Judgement“. My works blended his story of the judgment of souls with contemporary genetic research, cultural anthropology and environmentalism so as to provoke a dialogue regarding personal responsibility and survival. A curiosity about the transmission of information from generation to generation, not through observation, myth and pedagogy, but through the physical and chemical language employed by genes, guided my work.
The artworks of ‘Nomads All’ were first shown in the iMiNiMi exhibition at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Michigan in 2002. The venue‘s scale allowed the presentation of the entire body of paintings, drawings and sculpture as a single composition spanning twenty feet in width and reaching nearly twenty feet in height. Complete protein chains rose from the lower left to the upper center, where a sculptural helix with raised arm, passed judgement sending broken and damaged figures to their demise in the lower right. This reflects the fate of the figures as they are portrayed in the Vatican fresco.
Nomad 1.1 2002
Acrylic on Canvas, on floating plywood panel
36 1/2” x 53”
Nomad 1.2 2002
Acrylic on Canvas, on floating plywood panel
36 1/2” x 53”
Nomad 1.3 2002
Acrylic on Canvas, on floating plywood panel
36 1/2” x 53”
Nomad 1.4 2002
Acrylic on Canvas, on floating plywood panel
36 1/2” x 53”
Nomad Rising 2.1 2001
Acrylic on Canvas
26” x 38”
Nomad Rising 2.2 2001
Acrylic on Canvas
26” x 38”
Nomad Rising 2.3 2001
Acrylic on Canvas
26” x 38”
Nomad Falling 2.7 2001
Acrylic on Canvas
26” x 38”
Nomad Falling 2.6 2001
Acrylic on Canvas
26” x 38”
Nomad Falling 2.8 2001
Acrylic on Canvas
26” x 38”
The finished installation at the Krasl combined paintings, drawings and sculpture. A total of thirty-two flat works and eight sculptures were employed.
The Last Judgement wall of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican
Installing
“Nomads All” at the Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI
Five of the eight sculptural aspects of Nomads All 2002
Acrylic and Latex Rubber on Foam, Canvas and Cord on a Steel Armature
The largest is 55” high
The Nomads Rising and Nomads Falling series are comprised of 12 works each on unstretched and primed canvas. The images are abstractions of the figures from the Last Judgement fresco influenced by the chromosome form
Nomad Chant 1 through 6 2009 / 2021
20” x 16”
Acrylic and Graphite on Canvas
The repetition of four words. Food, Shelter, Tools and Baggage are from the ‘Nomads All’ series. The wavering lines through the paintings represent a chromosome form. Like the nomad, or refugee who carries with them the necessities of survival, within our chromosomes lie the abilities to promote our survival. They enable our bodies to process nutrients, protect and heal us, allow us to perceive and manipulate our surroundings and also provide some baggage in the form of potential disease and other factors unused or unknown.