"Ellipses." is the third image in my series on punctuation marks.   This time I combined the image of the punctuation mark with a self-portrait and some ice cubes rather than close ups of brass fixtures from my bathroom.  The background is flour.   Therefore the image returns to the themes of water and food from earlier in the year when I was creating the “Secret Decoder Ring” Series.  I think including water in a self-portrait is particularly interesting since, as mentioned previously, people are 64% water.   And of course, food and water are serious concerns but here they are used playfully. The inclusion of flour, in particular, interested me here because it seemed somewhat reminiscent of snow; therefore, it referenced the Rubber Glove Angels.  I think this image makes a number of interesting connections to some of the things I have been doing over the last year.  
 
The most playful/humorous part is the self-portrait itself where I depict myself with a pencil trying to draw myself but my thumb keeps getting in the way.  This is ludicrous since if you were drawing yourself, your pencil would not be on the subject matter it would be on the paper. Furthermore, while ones thumb can get in the way for a photo it would be a real problem if you could not move it out of the way of your drawing.  This relates to a joke I make while teaching drawing…as I move around the room I ask the students to be careful not to include me in the work…  .

Once again, I took inspiration from the objects in my bathroom.  (Floating) Quotation Mark… is constructed from images of the hinge on my shower door, the top of my sink, my countertop, and a lemon. I set out with the goal of creating another image where the form  relates in some way to a punctuation mark.  However, I also wanted to create an illusion of something else.  I had two ideas…the quotation mark could actually be like the frames of glasses with eyes in them and/or they could be like a giant space monolith floating above some celestial object.  I decided to make both illusions.  The result is either some kind of awe inspiring space odyssey or a frowny face.
 
Ever since I created the rubber Glove Angels, I have become more interested in images where there are multiple possible ways to see the subject matter.  While this could be related to the work of the surrealists, my goal is simply to increase engagement with the work.   When something has more than one possible meaning people are encouraged to play a sort of “art-looking” game when they experience the work. That helps make it playful. This image, in particular, playfully combines a serious science fiction trop with an emoji and a punctuation mark.   The result alternates between dramatic, serious, and silly.  
 
This image also reminded me a lot of a painting because the counter top took on the look of abstract blobs of colour.  In fact, I had to digitally “paint” even more than usual in this image to create the forms I wanted.  As I continue with my project (during Covid) to make work from images captured in and around my home, it seems I am never at a loss for objects and surfaces that can be taken out of context and transformed into art of various kinds. Looking back at this year I might describe my artistic journey as one where I responded to my situation by retreating into a fantasy world of art, based on the mundane objects found in my house-- rather than striving to escape my confinement.  I don’t know if that’s the best explanation but it struck me as the kind of thing an art historian would say!  

This image began as another in my series of inside/outside images where the goal is to show something from within and without at the same time...thereby examining the nature of dualities.  In this case, it was the bottom of the glass wall of my shower.  Strangely enough a lot of my ideas come to me in the morning, sometimes while taking a shower, brushing teeth, etc.  For example, “Dirty Money” was inspired by my dirty sink.  This time I noticed the metal clip at the bottom of the shower glass has an interesting rusting pattern, messy grouting, and  possibly some mould…all of which gave it a painterly look. I thought I would combine two images of the inside and outside of the shower but after taking the first one, and zooming in on it, I was reminded of a green house or solarium….the metal clip even reminded me of a pot.
 
It seemed to me that the idea of a solarium or green house was in some ways related to the inside/outside theme, so I just needed some plants and water. I used a lemon tree that we have growing inside and bubbling hottub water from outside. As I put the image together I continued in my exploration with symmetry.  Much of the painterly background is unique but parts of it are cut and pasted to create subtle repetitions within the image’s pattern.  The tree itself was not going to be symmetrical at first. However, just to see what it might look like, I duplicated it and flipped one copy horizontally. Strangely enough the two trees blended together in an unexpectedly organic way.  The result, a tree that seems at first glance to be perfectly symmetrical, but when looked at more closely it reveals itself to be out of that ridged pattern in a number of places.
 
The final product was therefore somewhat unexpected again (a little like the Rubber Glove Angels). It began as a continuation of themes related to the inside/outside duality and morphed into something more about simply playing with symmetry. By the end I noticed it looked like an explanation point.  However, I am not sure if this image is making a statement or asking a question so I gave it the title, “Exclamation Point?”

Last week I created a Roy Lichtenstein inspired image (a comic book) so I figured I would stay on the topic of pop artists this week and channel Claes Oldenberg (absurd food art…although Oldenburg made sculptures…).  The title itself relates the image to playing.  However, playing with food is perhaps a little different than normal play.  Normally when someone plays it's a use of their free time and is done for pleasure. Playing with food on the other hand is something children do when they don’t want to eat the food they have been given.  It actually is using up their free time (which we try to explain to them) and is not very pleasurable.
 
Play is always a distraction from reality but playing with food makes the distraction component the most important part of the play (as opposed to the enjoyment component).  Distraction is an interesting phenomenon. When one is distracted one subtracts oneself from the environment.  Often one is distracted by a simulation (television, music, a video game, etc).  But when a kid plays with food he/she is intentionally distracting herself/himself with the very thing that is to be avoided…which I find interesting. It would be like distracting yourself from mowing the lawn by fiddling with the lawnmower…which I imagine some people do! I think we probably call the adult version of playing with food…procrastination. While distraction is a part of playing I suspect that when it becomes the most important part…something has gone wrong.
 
Maybe procrastination is the Bizarro form of play (Superman reference).  It has some of the same characteristics but, in important ways, it is the opposite. Play is healthy, fun, and positive. Its hard to say the same things about procrastination. This image contains chess pieces mixed with food. This obviously is strange because the two don’t go together, which is possibly a metaphor for the fact that play and procrastination don’t go together. 
 
The image also continues to play with symmetry.  Furthermore, I used plastic wrap rather than rubber gloves to partially obfuscate the subject matter this time.  I also became aware of a resemblance of this image to a flower…I considered taking that element further but decided to leave it where it was.