ICON Show

Thursday, 04 February 2010

The ICON Exhibit is hung and ready to roll for first Thursday in February. I have been on a the edge of obsession with these portraits over the last few months as the images continue to flow into my subconscious. I capped it off at 15 portraits for the show - each presented as 24x30 inch giclee' prints. The following is the statement from the show card, as well as single images & random sketches.

Identity in the modern world is an arena full of visible and invisible conflict. Symbols and stories, styles and associations: everything comes to us already loaded with meaning. Clothes can subtly turn us into living endorsements; body types can be interpreted and projected as a genetic truth directly related to self-worth; our skin tones can signal cultural histories we may not even know. In our world, everything is fair game to be read as symbolic.

An icon, a careful and controlled symbol used to represent something hugely complex, is a study in refusals and assertions It is a creative act of synthesis that allows the symbol to simultaneously declare, this is what I am and this is what I am not. These creative acts happen all the time. We are all to some degree iconographers. Every time you put on your coat or cut your hair – or refuse put on your coat or cut your hair – you are adjusting the lines in your own icon.

Representing ourselves through symbols is, on one hand, an impossible task: we are far too complex of creatures to represent with even thousands of powerful symbols. On the other hand, seeking to represent ourselves in simplicity and truth delves into the questions about our nature, our personalities, our purpose, and ultimately, our beginnings.