America’s Guernica?

Artist Statement:

Guernica, the title of Picasso’s iconic 1937 anti-war painting, is also the name of the town in northern Spain and, like America’s Capitol in Washington DC, the seat of the Basque Parliament which was bombed by the Nazis in 1937 during the Spanish Revolution. January 6th, 2021, the day rioters stormed the building housing our nation’s seat of government, will forever be remembered as a day of infamy – as the day of the attack on our precious and fragile democracy. Could this attack on America’s seat of government be a warning of things to come, just as Spain’s events in Guernica might have foretold future atrocities and dictatorships?

America’s Guernica? paintings are a response to my fervent plea for peace and hope, despite the visceral hate and racism. I feel the influence of artists Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden guiding me.

Painted in vermillion and embedded in each painting, is the word “Shalom” written in Hebrew letters. Symbolizing unity to me is the word, peace. “Peace,” an English word, is “Shalom” in Hebrew and “Salaam” in Arabic. I chose the color vermillion, the color of blood which gives life and bleeds life away, as a tribute to artist Dahlov Ipcar who said, “May I die before I run out of vermillion.”

The first painting in the series is a pixelated Rudy Giuliani, the image shown on my Delta screen as I landed in Tampa and began thinking of the series. Pixelated might well symbolize the status of our democracy today. But unlike Picasso’s stark black and white painting, these canvases are vividly painted with bright colors, symbolizing my hope for the future.

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