Fictional Characters

My series, Fictional Characters, is an abstract alphabet. It is comprised of 90 panels, each with a unique letter-like image. When I make the piece, I first cover the panels with acrylic paint in order to pigment them. Then I pour acrylic media to make a unique, letter-like shape. The pouring is done in a matter of seconds. The idea is that the combination of muscle memory and chemistry with the materials involved determines the shape of each letter. Meaning is made through process—equally by my intention and by chance.

The ‘letters’ I make are abstract and are, therefore, open to interpretation. As we look at the project, we can no longer cleanly decipher what we read. But, rather than being completely indecipherable, there is leeway in our looking. We see things and then see other things, sometimes being lost and sometimes found.

My project is also modular—the panels move and change in arrangement, clustering together and pulling apart. Sometimes they exist individually and at other times they are arranged in arrays. This can also depend on the viewer. I am interested in what the configurations mean to other people. Part of the project is having other artists, friends and strangers, make their own arrangements of the panels. At times, they also give their curations a title, and write something about it. Meaning, in this sense, is continually coproduced. There is no end to the process of communicating.