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For over ten years I have been working on a series of abstract paintings and monotypes inspired by the following poem.

For the Anniversary of My Death by W.S. Merwin

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what

As with the poem, this project gives pause to contemplate our own relationship with mortality and strives to create a cathartic experience for people relating to the anniversary of a death.

I have worn the poem” For the Anniversary of My Death” since taking a course in poetry with W.S. Merwin at The Cooper Union in 1984. The paintings and monotypes range in size from a few inches square to over twenty two feet across. There are groups of monotypes (one of a kind prints), and paintings on paper, panels, and stretched canvas. Every work features a similar “shape” which allows for a classic abstract equivocating “figure/ground” relationship seen from Cezanne through de Kooning. The “shape” appears boldly in many works, but almost disappears in others, I am interested in visual juxtapositions and contradictions, so often the “shape” can read as positive or negative space. It can appear flat or spacial and often reverse in the same piece. The shape holds many metaphors, though I see it as a physical representation of the poem and the human spirit or soul.

Merwin’s poem is both personal and universal. Artists naturally face their mortality through their work. Each painting and monotype has become a celebration of that day when “the last fires will wave to me”. I understand Merwin’s feeling that life often seems like a “strange garment”. Living on a mountain, I am constantly “surprised,” like Merwin, by metaphors in nature and how they reveal themselves in my work. I am still surprised by the “love of one woman”, who has been in my life for 30 years. I am tortured by the “shamelessness of men”, especially our ‘leaders’. I am moved to paint these paintings as I bow spiritually, although not “knowing to what”.

I hope that this collaboration has the possibility to be a healing experience for others.

For The Anniversary of my Death

1997-2008

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
Oil on clayboard

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
Oil,Acrlic and dye on paper and canvas

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
monotype on paper

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
monotype on paper

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
dye and acrylic on canvas

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
dye, oil and acrylic on canvas

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
oil on canvas

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
Oil,Acrlic and dye on paper and canvas

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
dye on paper

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
dye, oil and acrylic on paper monotype

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
dye on paper

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
oil on cigar box

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
dye on paper

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
dye and acrylic on canvas

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
dye on paper

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
monotype on paper

For the Anniversary of My Death

1997-2008
monotype on paper