Corona Monsters Series 2, #1

From the Artist: To me, the magnified images of CoronaVirus protein are beautiful and exciting; colorfully stained, tricked out for clarity and definition. Yet, most vividly, Covid19 conjures the monsters of my dreams and torment of my lonely days. How to express the paradox and meaningfully fill countless, endless, depressing hours? For me, the “Corona Monsters” series expresses a challenging template for the reconciliation of beauty, evil, terror, and boredom. An ancient silver maple tree shed its bark all over my yard. As I examined the collected pieces, hundreds of angry, hidden, eyes, mouths and other creature features stared at me and screamed to be liberated from their surrounding texture. Soaking, pressing, preserving, and gluing the shards on canvas, then enhancing multiple and concurrent monsters with pastels, acrylics and polyurethane and finally esconcing them in a compatibly populated, two
dimensional rectangle, was my original recipe for solace. Further examination of the virus protein, with its Shrek-like protuberances and grainy substrate, recalled a Pointillism technique exploited in Australian Aborigonal paintings. By mixing “the dots,” the vivid colors of Fauvism, the audacity of Pop Art, and the fantasy of Surrealism, a second, calmer and less violent iteration of my Corona Monsters evolved. Cuddling with color is comforting. I am at peace.