“Mechanics of the Mind”

Art Show Statement at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Charlottesville, VA

April, 2018

Every age has a set of metaphors which people use to describe how they feel and think.  In this time, we characterize our minds as ‘computers’ which have a natural split of the ‘hardware’ of the brain and the ‘software’ of ideas and thoughts.  In these metaphors, it is often the physical that serves to better anchor the concepts of ephemeral emotion rather than other more abstract analogies:  the heat of passion, the tug of feeling, the leaning of sympathy, the slap of reality.  Pursuing this, I have visually interpreted various states of mind through the lens of mechanical components.  Use of such devices  is a repeating theme of mine and their appeal springs from their embodiment of clever design: black and white drawings of frozen imagination.  In order to promote some reflection of these ideas, in several of the images, I have added verbal hints of the emotional states. 

Below are some of the 28 watercolors from the show. These are all 11x15 inches.