Black Flag is a series of paintings which incorprates imagery from local memorials and monuments. Notable features of the Black Flag series are the use of metal, frames, and photographs. The metal elements symbolize images that we are aware of but are unable to comprehend, like the fading images of a dream once we have awakened. Wire is used to define alternate planes which allude top another reality. Frames are used to confine an element of the painting to reinforce the composition and they act as a mechanism to recall the past.
Black Flag captures the sensation of disorientation by organizing realistic images in abstract arrangements. This technique is based on an industrial/medieval style that utilizes symbols and elements of medieval art and modern abstract art. Medieval influences are found in the use of the frame as part of the art work, in the use of gold sky and in the symbolism of the imagery. Modern art influences include color fields that convey mood and the utilization of photography in the image generation. This blending of styles results in art that achieves a dream-like quality.
The purpose of the series is to investigate a topic through intuition and feeling that cannot be studies by scientific means. Each painting pursues an element of the topic; as a result the series of paintings represent the map of an ongoing exploration. The objective of Black Flag is to increase knowledge not by providing answers buy by asking questions in a new way.
