Are You Listening?
27 × 39 in / Mixed Media Drawing - Graphite & Ink, 2021
This incredibly personal work was created in 2021 and released during the height of the second US spike of the COVID pandemic.
I had no original intention to continue to explore the theme, but the message 'STOP' continued to call to my heart. Though I created the drawing through the many months when cases were declining and hope appeared on the horizon, the drawing release coincided with the highest COVID hospital sike our community had on record.
The work also coincided with a personal cardiac crisis. After 14 months of privately struggling with cardiac issues and two cardiac ablations, with no definite cure or diagnosis, the week the drawing was released, I lost consciousness and my heart stopped. I was diagnosed with an autonomic disease called POTS (STOP spelled backward) and immediately underwent surgery for a permanent pacemaker.
The work stands as a reminder of the subconscious power of art to allude to a deeper narrative.
Archival mounted and suspended in a black shadow box frame behind museum crystal clear glass. Clean white deckle edge surrounding the work. Available on ARTSY through Contemporary 33, Chicago.
Featured in the following exhibitions & publications:
DRAWN -The 10th Annual International Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing
Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio
5th Annual National Juried Exhibition
Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, Wisconsin, Honorable Mention
(INDA) International Drawing Annual 15, Manifest Gallery, 2023
Fine Art Connoisseur, January/February 2023