I became deaf around age 5 and I didn't get hearing aids until age 8. Then came years of speech therapy. Hearing and speaking, listening and understanding were things I worked hard to be able to do. As a kid I was shocked to see other people, who had very good hearing, not listening. It seemed weird to young-me that they'd have this super-human ability to easily hear and then not use it! Likewise they'd use phrases of language as if the words were pats of butter melting in their mouth and yet they'd not seem to think about the meanings of the words they so smoothly, so easily, said.
As I wrote in more detail on my recent blog post as an adult now I better understand the phenomena of not listening and not thinking about the meanings of words. But still sometimes when I think of words, slogans and phrases being used thoughtlessly … or used to deliberately mislead… I get the willies.
So for my upcoming fine art exhibit at Caplan Art Designs Portland - which opens Oct 5 from 6 to 9 pm - I play with common phrases and I've titled my exhibit Figures Of Speech. Via visual humor I wanted to explore the meanings of phrases that we use and perhaps don't consciously think about. So here are a few of my paintings and one 3d sculpture from my exhibit. The phrases that inspired my artwork are also their titles:
“Marinating Pork”
“Pink Elephant”
“The Elephant In The Room”
And here's a video of a 3d sculpture titled “Thinking Outside The Box”. And yes, that's my voice on the video. If you'd told the little-kid-me that someday I'd record videos, give gallery talks and so forth in public the kid-me would have vigorously, silently, shaken her head in disbelief.
As one does when one has a one-person exhibit in a commercial art gallery I wrote an art exhibit statement.
All of the artwork I'm sharing is available via the Caplan Art Designs Gallery. The reception opens Oct 5 from 6 to 9 pm. The exhibit will be up through October. The Gallery does delivery and shipping of artwork.
Yes, I'm still doing my morning sketchbook pages and tiny tree drawings. Just right now my social media is focused on this upcoming exhibit. And I'll share more of my art from this exhibit in future newsletters. Even so here's one of my recent trees drawn on a rainy day…
Do I get nervous about exhibit openings? Well, yes, even after doing them for more than 25 years, I do get somewhat nervous. But I'm more nervous about hearing during a noisy gallery reception than anything else. Mostly nowadays I accept the odd surreal nonsensical seeming sense of “hearing” that I feel keenly during such events. And I've worked with the Caplan Art Designs Gallery for more than 10 years so I can trust that they'll handle the things I'll miss due to not hearing. My wife and several friends are coming and they'll have my back. And I know I'll do my best to hear whatever I can and that'll have to be good enough. I'm grateful hearing aid technology has vastly improved since I was a kid… but even so hearing is hard work for me.
Please enjoy your sense of hearing today and use carefully your facility with language.
Love that box! It cracks me up.
I love these and wish I could attend!