Toys, Games, & PuzzlesAside from the obvious, that I am engaging in play and wit, I am also dealing with the basic metaphor of game as life. I establish my surface (either paper or canvas) as the playing field, or game board, upon which all activity occurs. Similarly, our lives take place on our own game boards, and we are the tokens who create the action on our surface. We move about, “doing our thing.” We start at home and play to finish, all the while making notations, and following (or not following) signs and directions.
As in my earlier work, I again address concepts of randomness, mistakes/correction, spontaneity/organization, juxtaposition, ambiguity, and surprise. The toys were first implied while I was involved with the “X and O” paintings of the early 90”s. Among other things, I realized that Xs and Os were the familiar tokens for tic-tac-toe. At that point I began to think about the universality and complexity of game and play.
I have begun to explore sport, such as golf, which takes place on the ultimate symbolic gameboard. The golf course is in fact, in real life, an unreal reality! In addition, I have recently introduced current world news events into my work: The Maryland/D.C/Virginia sniper with its labyrinths and pathways of hide and seek, and the war in Iraq with its random but ordered “game plan.”
I am fascinated by how the T.V. screen reduces and transforms life happenings to a toy world. We thus become spectators of horrific acts with a detached participation.
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