Totems

Ten square works, ten by ten inches, cut paper and ink and acrylic over flat painted fields. Each one is vertical and frontal and reads as a totem, or as a device on a shield.

They are named for a quality and an organism at the same time. Root Totem (Square Tomato). Dialectic Totem (Brain Coral). Influence Totem (Tendrils). Passion Totem on a cobalt field.

That pairing is the whole body. A heraldic device and a branching coral settle into the same plan. A root system, a neural arbor and a mycelial mat each reach the same radial solution without consulting one another. I cut the form first and find out afterward which of the two it was.