“Afloat” Image. Ceres Gallery. New York. Solo Show.

Google captures some of my earlier stuff (Google captures everyone’s earlier stuff) where I went a little crazy with natural disasters. I even had a solo show in Atlanta where, although I did not mention natural disasters in the title of the exhibition, the entire body of work consisted of volcanoes and floods.

I exhibited in a solo show in New York with this kind of work also, but I did own up to the subject matter this time by using the title, “Tectonics”. In both of these shows and in all the work I do with this theme, I approach it from an aesthetic point of view. I love explosions, tidal waves, fire and brimstone. I like the chaos, color, motion and excitement. The nature of natural disasters encapsulates these things.

The above work is one of the collages from the “Afloat: An Installation” series, using this theme. Flames and explosions amid a lovely valley near a snow-covered mountain. I searched extensively to find magazines with fire, explosions and smoke on the printed page. (I do not use photoshop or internet images ever. All of my collage work is cut paper from magazines and other printed material) I like cut printed material for this type of art because even magazines are now on the internet. I am combining what-is-becoming old fashioned materials with an old fashioned medium.

What is not hard to find, however, in magazines, are flowers. And I love how I put the foreground flames side-by-side with over-sized flowers. As if to say, hey, all is okay.