2008

80.5 x 59 in.  
Sold
The artwork, It is No Use Shouting (after Goya) is the third piece in a series of ceramic tile wall murals, each depicting a large iconic image of the 20th and early 21st centuries. In each mural, the overall image is a composition of carefully arranged, meticulously carved black and white tiles. These individual tiles are of many images chosen to relate to the larger image, and range from the devastations of war to the creations of artists. Thus, each piece operates on both macro- and micro-scales, creating a narrative tension between the disparate scales and related and/or contradictory imagery.


The artwork, "It is No Use Shouting (after Goya)" is the third piece in a series of ceramic tile wall murals, each depicting a large iconic image of the 20th and early 21st centuries.  In each mural, the overall image is a composition of carefully arranged, meticulously carved black and white tiles.  These individual tiles are of many images chosen to relate to the larger image, and range from the devastations of war to the creations of artists.  Thus, each piece operates on both macro- and micro-scales, creating a narrative tension between the disparate scales and related and/or contradictory imagery.

The first mural in the series, finished in 1999 and consisting of more than 1,100 individual tiles, is titled "The Gift" (permanent collection, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR).  The image of this nearly seven by ten foot mural is of the Baker test, the iconic mushroom cloud of the atmospheric nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific.  This piece, is intended to be an overt warning of the continuing dangers of nuclear weaponry, a "gift" of the 20th century that has made the passage into the 21st.

The next mural, "All Nations Have Their Moment of Foolishness" (permanent collection, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA) was finished in 2006.  Depicting the tightly cropped face of George W. Bush, it consists of several hundred tiles, with the microcosmic images on each tile representing war imagery:  bombed urban landscapes, barbed wire, bombs falling, the hooded figure of Abu Ghraib infamy, and the iconic screaming horse from Picasso's painting "Guernica".  I also included a couple of images from Michelangelo's "Pieta" -- details of the feet and left hand of Christ -- a reference to Bush's self-proclaimed spirituality.

All of my artworks in ceramic sculpture and teapots are an overt plea for sanity on our fragile planet, especially in these precarious times.  The problems of human civilization are far too complex to be solved by means of explosive devices.


Previous   Next
view portfolio

Contact us to inquire about this work.

click here to go back to previous page