Abstractions in a Lost Tongue

www.glennhirsch.com

"Abstractions in a Lost Tongue"

The work is inspired by Mayan writing -- glyphs that have been deciphered by etymologists. Among other things, the texts speak about cyclical time in a kind of ancient software code that the Maya painted on temple walls to keep the Universe running smoothly.

But the series is not about what the glyphs meant as much as what they evoke: a phantasmagoria of luxurious line, masked glaze, sponged light and perhaps a warning that any civilization can come to its own demise through ecologically induced disaster, war and over-population.

The paintings are informed by the art of Wolfgang Paalen, Richard Pousette-Dart, and the early work of Barnett Newman, Adolph Gottlieb, and Jackson Pollock as they used Native imagery as a catalyst for unconscious association and spiritual renewal through the primitive.

“Codex” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Free Spirit” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Ghost Ship” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Maya Planet” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Transfiguration” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Encryption” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Lava Tube” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Code Goddess” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Picnic of the Mayan Prince” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Projection” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Mutation” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Golem” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Styx” mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Pandora’s Box” mixed media on paper 30” x 22”

“Pandora’s Hope” mixed media on paper 30” x 22”

“Pandora’s Code” mixed media on paper 30” x 22”

“Pandora’s Experiment” mixed media on paper 30” x 22”

“Clan of the Dave Bear” 30” x 22”

“Syntax Swamp” (diptych) mixed media on paper 22”x60”

“Throne” mixed media on paper 32”x50”

“Flower Child” mixed media on paper 32”x50”

“Ghost Trap” mixed media on paper 22”x30”

Installation view, Kings Gallery, First Unitarian Universalist Society, San Francisco (2012)

Installation view, Kings Gallery, First Unitarian Universalist Society, San Francisco (2012)