#whollyfool

 The Wholly Fool (#WhollyFool) is my personally imagined interpretation of a literary trope. Throughout history he shows up variously as the tarot’s magician, the archetypal trickster, the court’s jester and more specifically, Russia’s very own Holy Fool.  In my work he shows up as a rabbit to whom I have given the moniker, Rasputin.  His fictional quest for enlightenment is characteristically humorous, heroic, solitary and soulful.  In this show I have progressively mapped the journey of the Wholly Fool through the month of December in an attempt to use paint, an assortment of drawing materials, paper, found objects and print material to cathartically exorcise the personal and collective pandemic 2020 experience.

Wholly Fool is an installation that is cultivated over the course of a 31 day residency. She utilizes a  sculptural meditation space, which she created and implemented into SPAACES gallery. Within the space she does a meditative action daily to gather ideas, ephemera, paint, draw, write, and contemplate, to visually highlight things that speak to her, the artist. All these actions are done in response to her meditative process. The art creation process is exceedingly important to me, as it honors the value of Art-as-Practice. Wholly Fool, is a temporal piece that unapologetically challenges object making and the resultant art consumption. Throughout the creative process she begins to see her work as a collective consciousness. The work created is a culmination of all of the past events, personal experiences, and emotions she has faced during the year of 2020. She begins to realize that the time frame of her residency being at the end of the year was no accident. Her work displays emotions of anxiety, anger, and the power of endurance.

 Included in the show are the After Dali Tarot series of paintings. This group of densely symbolic and colorful acrylic on canvas works were all completed during the Covid 19 pandemic. Early in 2020 I purchased one of the newly reprinted Dali Tarot deck. Playing off these sureally symbolic and art historically weighted novelties to express my inner life over the period of 9 months in 2020. Only the cards that mirrored my experience were interpreted. Color, play and seriousness are all present in these 24x30” acrylic on canvas works. These works can be purchased through the Spaaces Gallery of Sarasota Florida.