Paintings - Skatte
This oil painting is the result of a four-year process of transformation and evolution. The composition combines ellipses and spiral ribbons that evoke the double helix. This structure creates a profound space to arrange six emblems, each representing an aspect of human culture.
Top: Seneca Village Comb (Beauty and Suffering) - Unearthed during the excavation of Seneca Village, a 19th-century community of free African Americans in NYC, this hair accessory, a chain-link comb made from gutta-percha resin, contains the bitter irony of a decorative object carefully designed using a symbol of black oppression. The proximity of beauty to suffering is paralelled with the relationship between aesthetics and harsh meaning.
2nd: Book with bookmarkers (Knowledge and Hope) - A recurring symbol in my work, this emblem celebrates knowledge and hope in the human endeavors of past generations recorded for posterity.
3rd: Hands (Guilt and Responsibility) - The dismembered, blood-stained hands represent my personal culpability and responsibility for the pain and suffering I have caused others through my own words and deeds.
4th: Bowl (Craft and Culture) - A close replica of a glass bowl given to me by a friend, this emblem celebrates human intervention into nature and the beauty of skilled craft.
5th: iPhone (Culture and Accountability) - This emblem represents the dominance and influence of technology. Its flat, unassuming form belies its power and the vast spread of human thought and activity it contains.
6th: Silene Stenophylla (Nature and Culture) - Three test tubes contain the prehistoric seeds and sprout of a 32,000-year-old plant. This emblem celebrates the journey of human interventions into nature, from the simplest clay vessels to the re-germination of ancient seeds. The three test tubes symbolize my two daughters and me, a hopeful gesture toward their futures with the sanctuary and comfort science can offer.