Dating from late 2019 onwards, this body of work revolves around starsailors: those who willingly fling themselves into both great danger and greater mystery. This work is deeply autobiographical—and yet more universally understood—as it revolves around both the personal exploration of an alluring, mystic abyss and the embrace of daunting risk.
The medium of silverpoint primarily constitutes these drawings, its exactitude and metallic properties an ideal vehicle for the technology and science portrayed. Silverpoint is a pre-Renaissance drawing method in which the artist uses a piece of silver wire to make marks across a specially-prepared gesso, usually applied onto a panel or thick, hot-pressed watercolor paper. With silverpoint, there is very little smudging, blurring, or removal of its hyper-fine lines, and, as such, it is recognized as a rigorous medium to master—another nod to the fastidious, disciplined nature of space exploration and its technology. In the adjacent video, the light shifting on the drawing's surface is simply the reflection of the silverpoint and gilded star details.
Aries, Argonaut, Astronaut, 2019-2020, silverpoint, goldpoint & silverleaf on hand-gessoed panel, 18 x 16"
Detail from Aries, Argonaut, Astronaut, 2019-2020, silverpoint, goldpoint & silverleaf on hand-gessoed panel, 18 x 16"
The Moral is the Chosen, Not the Forced, 2020, silverpoint, goldpoint, watercolor & silverleaf on hand-gessoed panel, 12 x 12"
Io Impulsum, 2020, silverpoint, goldpoint & silverleaf on hand-gessoed panel, 25 x 18"
Detail from Io Impulsum, 2020, silverpoint, goldpoint & silverleaf on hand-gessoed panel, 25 x 18"
Pisces, Percitum, Pilot, 2020, silverpoint, goldpoint & silverleaf on hand-gessoed panel, 16 x 18"
The Pendulum & the Painter, 2020, silverpoint, goldpoint, silverleaf & copperleaf on hand-gessoed panel, 15 3/8 x 25"
The Smallest Minority on Earth, 2020-2021, silverpoint, goldpoint, ink, watercolor & acrylic on hand-gessoed paper, 41 1/4 x 29 3/4"
Detail from The Smallest Minority on Earth, 2020-2021, silverpoint, goldpoint, ink, watercolor & acrylic on hand-gessoed paper, 41 1/4 x 29 3/4"
I Sing the Body Electric, 2022, silverpoint, watercolor & ink on hand-gessoed panel, 25 x 20 3/4"
