Art form: 2-D

Medium: graphite on gesso

Year created: 2004

Description of work: Using a full-sheet of watercolor paper, the process involved making a hard black surface with gesso base and powdered graphite finish, the image then created using sandpaper in a subtractive manner. Tedious but gratifying, the drawing/sanding process must be error-free since there is no way to reapply the black graphite without marring the finish. The thick use of gesso creates rich brush strokes that add to the exciting texture, a full range of value dependent upon the pressure of the sandpaper to the surface.

Work statement: Jeremy is a 29-year-old young man, a high-functioning autistic. He is my son yet like the son of others. He has complete control in his "own little world" where he most often resides. The larger world is a different matter.
In this image, the hands express his endless struggle between feelings of control and stability in his world of solitude -- and his sense of impotence and futility in his attempted participation in the “real world.” He is in a dark place.
We may recognize the tension within the young man's hands -- the struggle we all face in the gaps between hopelessness and promise, intimacy and longing, faith and doubt, darkness and the dawn.
Living in the gap is painful, yet I trust and await Jeremy's eventual coming dawn.
“We have a more sure word of prophecy; and you do well to take heed, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn and the Day Star arise in your hearts.” II Peter 1:19