"Face 1" oil, graphite, ink on gessoed paper
While traveling in Romania in the fall of 2011, I met a young woman who had recently moved back to this country to help her sick mother. During the Ceaucescu communist regime, her mother had to work three jobs, had little food and worked in a highly polluted area…and on top of that had to take care of her children. Before that era, her parents suffered the horrors of war. This painting evoked an almost faceless woman, tired, worn, burdened…one of many thousands who starved and slaved thanklessly for decades. These struggling women labor incessantly not only in Romania but around the globe.
"Face 2" oil, graphite, ink on gessoed paper
"Face 3" oil, graphite, ink on gessoed paper
Inspiration for painting these sorrow-filled and pained faces came from a visit to holocaust sites in Eastern Europe. Doing the artwork enabled me to begin a process of trying to comprehend the intense anguish I felt from seeing these memorials of terror. Also, while painting, I kept being reminded of the seemingly endless struggle experienced by women and minorities against oppressive and destructive brutality. With my art, I hope to bring attention to the purposelessness and viciousness of such unspeakable horrors.
"Face 1" and "Face 3" were accepted into a juried show by the WCA (Women's Caucus for the Arts) at 825 Gallery in Los Angeles (February 7 to March 2, 2012).
"Face 4" oil, graphite, ink on gessoed paper
"Face 5" oil,graphite, ink on gessoed paper
"Face 4" and "Face 5" paintings continue the series of women's faces I had started in late 2011.
