36" x 36" Mixed media on wood This is part of a series inspired by 100 letters written by my grandfather while he was a young soldier serving in the US Army during World War I. I never met him. All the artwork in this series bring forth the feelings, passions and ideas he wrote about, or are derived from the physicality of the stationery, handwriting, stains, etc. This series references how immigrants have persevered through darkness, after persecution or great despair, to find their way to a distant, more hopeful shore. Like my grandfather, who fled the pogroms of Eastern Europe and then proudly fought as a U.S. soldier in the "Great War," so many immigrants have held their commitment to America – with all its promises and pitfalls – as a deep honor and privilege. The phrase "With the Colors," which was printed onto the U.S. Expeditionary Forces stationery he used, stands as a solemn and heartfelt term for the American flag. Each painting in this series embodies the immigrant's dual perspective – like a message in a bottle drifting across vast waters, carrying hopes and memories within: one part facing backward across the ocean to family, streets and villages left behind, and one part straining forward toward an unknown horizon of possibility. Just as my grandfather's letters carried both longing and determination across the ocean, these paintings hold the tension between remembrance and reinvention that defines the immigrant experience. The phrase "with the colors" takes on deeper meaning in this context – not just allegiance to a new flag, but the act of carrying one's own colors, one's own culture and heritage, into the American tapestry. Each immigrant's journey represents both a [...]
