"Kiss at Kristopighi  (The Separation)"

Mixed Media:  Acrylic, Lithographic Ink,  Liquid Metal,  and Gold Leaf on Canvas and Incised and                                             Mono-printed Leather
Size     28  x 22 in.

                 $2000

Artist’s Comments   (Artist’s Comments are intended solely for those viewers who would appreciate more information on the motivations and processes involved in each painting.  They are not intended to direct how anyone might respond to or interpret my work.)

Kiss at Kristopighi (The Separation)  refers to a Christian story/myth that originated at Kristopighi on the Greek island of Syphnos.  As the story goes, many years ago young women went to tend the candles at a small church at the end of a high and narrow spit of land at Kristopighi, on the Greek island of Syphnos.  Pirates, who had arrived the night before and were sleeping at the base of the cliff, awoke and made chase.  The Virgin Mary protected the girls from the pirates’ evil intentions by completely splitting the land of the church off from the main body of the island. 

The present day islanders and many others firmly believe the truth of this story.  A geologist, on the other hand would explain the break in the land by natural causes.  I find the contrast between the two points of view a fascinating subject for a painting.

Throughout my career much of my work has examined the incongruity of man's relationship to God and/or myth.  I explore through symbols, the encounter of deeply held religious beliefs with new historical/scientific data related to those beliefs. 

As with the art of Aboriginal Australia (where I lived for a year) I have infused the work with several layers of meaning, based on symbols of personal concerns. For example, the imprint of contemporary techniques on long held beliefs is suggested in my work through the addition of a hard edged elements, or by unusual juxtapositions of images and ideas, often in ambiguous spatial relationships.