This is the short story of how the word “Love” sort of popped into my head and has became the most important subject of my art career.
So, in the spring of 2018 I received a phone call from Peter Bugg, an Arizona State University Art Professor of mine who had now become the City of Chandler’s Visual Arts Coordinator. Peter had called to offer me a solo exhibition at Gallery One, a spacious class enclosed gallery space situated on the ground floor of the Chandler City Hall building. He informed me that the exhibition would be slated for the month of January in 2019, and that the gallery space included an awesome 30-foot wide by 10-foot tall free-standing wall. Peter also noted that large wall would be the most publicly visible part of the exhibition and faced a high-traffic thoroughfare in the downtown center. I was honestly humbled by Peter’s kind offer and accepted it immediately.
In the days immediately following Peter’s call, I began thinking about what I would display on that free standing wall. It was a bit intimidating. I was thankful that I had six months to figure it out.
All I knew is that I wanted the Gallery One exhibition to feature something brand new. I wanted to exhibit a new series of works to be shown for the very first time. For me, making something new for a new exhibition is just all around good thinking and something I have done for every exhibition I’ve ever been in. It honors the gallery and it keeps my work relevant. Sooo, I sent a vibe deep within to find a fresh idea and a meaningful subject.
I’m not exactly sure how things pop into person’s mind, but in this case there I was in the studio, a week or so following Peter Bugg’s gracious invitation, unpacking a box of books and half listening to the dreadful morning news. And this is when the “magic” happens. Don’t ask me how, but suddenly the word love comes to my frontal lobe. It was like a deep internal “Hello!” – metaphorically speaking. “Love.” It was like I heard the word love inside my head, and then a second later that turned into a sort of sustained and exuding buzz. The word Love was slowly and quietly echoing in my mind, and every ten seconds or so repeating itself - “Love.”
So there I was, in my studio, standing there, internally hearing and now thinking - love. Love, you know - love. And then, as if I was a third grader, I spelled it to myself out loud saying, “Love, L. O. V. E.” I grabbed my sketchbook and wrote out the word love - as if I had never written the word before this moment. First I spell it out using all caps, L O V E, then in upper and lower case, L o v e, then lower case, l o v e, and finally in cursive. and before you know it, I’m nodding and internally grinning at new series - the “Love Series.” A series based on one word, Love.
Six months later, this is how the exhibition looked from outside Gallery One.