Artist Statement
The Watchtower monotype series is based on my reflections upon a Han dynasty tomb architectural miniature of this subject. The original pavilion-style ceramic tower has a sense of strength and vigilance, as well as familiarity and connection. The function of a watchtower was to provide a place from where immanent dangers could be observed, announced and hopefully thwarted. More importantly, a watchtower witnessed the normal events and passages of a location or a community. In a sense, a watchtower was and still is an observer and guardian of history.
The miniature made me think about the watchtowers I had seen along the Great Wall in China as well as other watchtowers in different world cultures, each with more or less the same mission - observe and defend. I was also taken with the idea that a watchtower seemed to have enough power and significance to ancient viewers that a miniature replica was created to take into the afterlife where it could carry on its function.
For me, the watchtower has become a spiritual icon that connects different worlds through different times. This series was my exploration of this concept of vigilance and protection from the past to the beyond. I wanted the work to have a sense of suspension, or timelessness and yet also an active energy. |