Sign Language

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Making marks has been an obsession of mine. It is the very thing that enables us to see ourselves from the outside. It awakens our consciousness of being and engenders agency. A mark is the first step toward language and the codification of sound; the beginning of image-text duality. Much of my artwork originates from this impulse to be in the space between image and text. But before the text is an image. When the image is replicated in association with meaning, it becomes a sign. The sign gains power when many eyes know its meaning. A stop sign is an almost universal example. My portfolio holds many works exploring the dynamics of the mark-to-image. In paintings like Argent Vif 1998, marks made with a black paint stick cover the pale yellow ground, relenting around an illusively intangible form, enabling an image without substance to emerge. Making art is about making the intangible, tangible, yet held in mystery. Looking at images in this Sign Language portfolio will take you through a wide-ranging material exploration of the philosophical chicken and egg question.

Nada (1999)

Question (1999)

Ram II (1999)

Staff (1999)

Staple (1999)