(YR-2006)
title::         Builders II (series)
medium :: dry (soft) pastel on watercolor paper
size ::       51"x38" (~1.3M  x 1M)

Builders II is a continued exploration of the Builders series. My hand got bolder and migrated onto a larger paper format.  Three drawings comprise one work  one idea, yet they are independent of each other.

Builders II, 1of3: SMALL MAN OF BIG STONE, BIG MAN WITH SMALL STONE - no matter where we are physically or mentally, I believe we have the power to create our constructs.  They are refined or they are rough, they are overwhelming or too insignificant.
Builders II, 2of3: WHY DO YOU THINK THAT SIDE IS BETTER?  is a drawing with the most literal interpretation of events that took place.  There is a border in the form of a wall, it creates two sides, one side has two people sheltered, the other side has their past of attachments and previous life in the form of balls scattered.  Its hard to say where these two people feel more at home.
Builders II, 3of3: FAMILY CON-STRUCTURE  it is only when one has a family of ones own, she can understand what their parents and grandparents were telling them about love, life, values: it is the green tunnel promising a journey; it is an unbalanced brick structure that is held together by a thin rod; it is an overarching roof that serves as a shelter; it is the cobbled stone paving that we pave together.

"We are the makers of our own destiny" I'd hear growing up from my teachers and everyone involved and responsible for my social quality, moral purity and politically responsibile education.  I believed it, indeed.  Not until a bit later that I realized that we are the makers indeed, but of the high, heavy, impenetrable walls of our past, present and future.  We are the makers of the confinement of our freedom.  We make them, we construct them, we work and sweat to perfect them, yet they are invisible constructs.  We convince our children that that is the norm, that is necessary.  For better or for worse our reality is constructed, we live it abiding by its rules.

Izmail is a series of four drawings and my first experimentation with dry pastel.  It was also my first time running out of paper before having a chance to reflect all the ideas in my head.  These drawings compile memories distant and new, wishes ephemeral and defined.  Like an feverish patient, my imagination was on fire, i was in a hurry to understand the traditional medium, which would make me want to draw, draw, draw for many years ahead.
These four drawings have many subjects in them:  there are dead people in coffins, there is my family house where i grew up, there is a hoop and my past as a gymnast, there is my mother and my brother, there is my first love, there is a lot of baggage from over the seas.

Still life, drawn from looking at real objects and having great fun imagining them dancing and pouring substances into each other.  Having the table cloth come alive and fill in the backdrop with its pattern.