PAUL CELAN

This series of paintings is a visual tribute to Paul Celan, a Holocaust poet who left an indelible body of work that reflects the agony of loss. The motif of the series is a headless torso with hands joined over the genitals to convey vulnerability. The text of his poetry is inscribed on the back of the translucent material synskin, a fiberglass paper. The material appeals to my sense of the impermanence of the body in contrast to the imprint of the written word. Layers of fluid acrylic and oil washes enhanced texturally with pigments, metallic powders and earth allude to the rich decay of the body.