Dimensions: 60” x 44” each panel
Total: 60 “ X 97”
Panels: 2
Year: 2018-23
Medium: Carbon nanotube, water colour and ink
Description:
In this diptych with two 60” x 48” canvases the panel on the left is of my adult daughter Isa, she is wrapped in thick red blankets which take the shape of my heart. When she was very young her mother took her and her sister to Europe and years were lost between us. Where my heart break lived only in pictures of her and her sister, which is represented by the painting on the wall behind her of my heart, which mirrors her pose. She holds a skull which has come to represent me, and a fathers love, I wish for them to hold.
Written in text on the image ,” My heart stands before me, Relief to hope, A thousand years of lost love”.
The inked skulls representing my honest love of my four children, and one lost to us are painted upon the blankets that protect her.
The inked skull painted over and interlocking with the skull below in her hands is for the great love, that I have found with my wife the mother and step mother of my children.
After my experience in the 9/11 terrorist attacks my heart suffered the after effects of their poisoning and my physical heart failed me, the plant in the foreground is digitalis, a medicine for heart. It represents the love and hope which was the medicine I received from my four children and wife.
The two crosses on this panel represent the crossroads of children, and finding my partner.
The panel on the right is in black and white, and is meant to appear sculptural. It represents the life journey my heat has taken romantically. As with the first panel a picture of my heart viewed from the other side is on the wall, representing the memories, and romantic crossroads marked by three crosses.
Defend a Broken Heart is meant to explore the complexity of love and life, in all its aspects, love of child , romantic love , and even the love to survive. The pain of separation from my children, the pain of betrayal and joy by the ones we trust, and finally the pain of ones own heart failing due to health,.
This work took over 9 years to complete, in water colour and ink.