My 2020 project “Forty, For You” is documented and available in digital and physical form.
45-page hardback book and digital music download
PDF book and digital music download
In early 2020, driven by a desire to establish a contemplative experience of space and time within the format of an often endless social media scroll, I created the project "Forty, For You." Beginning on February 26, I began to make a suite of 40 paintings on paper, which were accompanied by 40, 1-minute original ambient musical compositions. On Instagram, these could be viewed as a still image while the music looped to the viewer's desired length. The pieces were created and released daily through April 11. I chose the contemplative 40-day season of Lent as a chronological framework.
When I began the project there was little awareness in the US that a pandemic was developing. On March 5, I spent the day in New York seeing gallery shows with artists friends. There was a degree of concern, but nothing like the full-scale panic that set in just days later when stay-at-home orders began in Philadelphia.
Unfolding as it did against the backdrop of the global coronavirus pandemic, with hundreds of millions of people sheltering at home for months, the significance of creating a contemplative time and space for myself and others became incredibly important in a way that I could not have imagined.
The artworks were made and photographed in my studio. I often worked days ahead because of the uncertainty of being able to travel to the studio. The musical compositions were made daily at my home, extemporaneously and in response to the artwork. Most often I was working on the music very early in the morning. The recordings feature a wide array of guitar sounds, some electronic instruments, and occasionally my voice. There was also A LOT of technical detail...editing the images and music, and then combining them as short videos and getting them uploaded.
The process was a personal lifeline for me in a way that my art has never been before. And I was incredibly humbled to hear from others that the daily image and minute of ambient music was something they, too, relied upon daily in their own personal way.
Instagram stats tell me the pieces have been viewed nearly 16,000 times. Incredible!
The original 10" square paintings on paper were made in triplicate. (3 sets of very similar but unique works.) I will keep one of the sets for myself but the other two sets are available. Please contact me if you are interested in exhibiting or purchasing the series.