PILGRIM SERIES

The series is built on what I deemed to be universal themes for the human experience. The themes were “I/Me” – “Family” – “Country/Nation” – “Spirit.” I have always been a fan of Chinese characters – the loose ebb and tide of the marks: the gestural language and the inherent mystery to their meaning. In turn I used the Chinese characters for each of the themes in the prints. So, for instance, Pilgrim 1 (I, Me) has the Chinese character for ‘I, Me’ in the background (the soft pinkish marks encompassing the picture plane). Also, each of the first nine prints in the series has a skull in the background. Death is constant in the human experience. The last print in the series has all the characters simply printed. The final print was purely self-indulgent; I just wanted to see all the characters intermingling.

Pilgrim 1 (I,Me) has an actual manuscript (or image thereof) of a hand-written text scrolled by a monastery monk. It symbolizes what I am as a printmaker. I spend endless hours working on an outdated art/craft in complete isolation. The reddish rose shaped form bottom center is a cancer cell; it is homage to my friends who have died from cancer. The green eagle top left is actually a Spanish Eagle. It is a reference to the fact I grew up in Spain to a large extent.

Pilgrim 2 (Family) once again has a different skull in the background as well as the Chinese character denoting Family. The WWII dive bombing plane is a Junkers J87 Stuka and it symbolizes my father’s traumatizing experience as a prisoner of war in Germany. It is also a denotation of my father’s terrible influence in my family when he was younger and capable of pernicious acts. The brownish box lower right of a fellow receiving electro-shock treatment marks my family’s history of clinical depression. The B-52 Stratofortress at the top is my family’s history of military involvement in one sense. In another sense it is a personal fascination of airplanes that is shared by my male siblings.

Pilgrim 5 (Country/Nation) has the skull and the character in the background. The brownish mass on top is actually a close up of an ant colony. It is my idea of the dehumanizing effect of working and living in a capitalist society. The ship lower left is a slave ship. It is a reminder of our country’s sad legacy of how our country plundered one nation to its benefit by bestializing a different race.

Pilgrim 6 (Spirit) presents a Coyote. When is a coyote not a coyote? – when it is the Trickster. When I lived on the Umatilla Reservation I would hear references to the Trickster. He is a wily and cunning character in the Native spiritual world. He is not to be trusted. In that sense I wanted to propose the parallel between the Trickster and the introduction of Europeans into America. The influence of Christianity is not a native idea (both meanings intended). The orange mass on the upper three quarters of the image is a picture of the sun with solar flares erupting. I am referencing how insignificant we truly are in the scope of the physical world. The stellar allusion is a tangential reference to the greatness that lies beyond; the closest I can come to citing spirituality in a limited sense. The skull and the character are also printed on this piece.

I also wanted to foray into randomness while maintaining a printerly disposition; to stray from methodical cogent printing. The plates from Pilgrim 1 (I, Me) and Pilgrim 2 (Family) were then printed together to create Pilgrim 3 and Pilgrim 4. The plates from Pilgrim 5 (Country, Nation) and Pilgrim 6 (Spirit) were then combined to print Pilgrim 7 and Pilgrim 8. Finally, I printed all of the plates on one print to create Pilgrim 9.

Pilgrim – the idea that our “forefathers” came to a wild land and “settled”: it is ridiculous to me. It may seem harmless enough to teach the idea to grade school children but I ask whether or not that may be just the start of fostering the idea of self-righteousness and a sense of entitlement. The Native American history chronicling the interaction with Europeans is far different. I also just simply like the sound of the word. When John Wayne spits it out, it truly is an insult.