Sift

Sift #5	Sift #28	Sift #37	Sift #19

Sift is a series of 40 works on 6" x 8" paper. They are "prints" in the sense that the initial application of pigment came when I touched the surface of the paper to the surface of the molten beeswax. They are "drawings" in that I incised the surface with a pointed tool, and "paintings" in that I worked the surface as I do in my works on canvas—by adding wax and scraping it off until I have achieved a surface that satisfies me.

The limited range of color in the series lets me focus on its subtle shifts in intensity, density and purity. While the image may initially strike some as topographical—and others as anatomical (my photographer asked if I was making "some kind of statement about the female body")—I was thinking about artmaking as a kind of archeology, where the essence is obtained by scraping and sifting in a methodical but intuitive way.

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