Wit. Will. Wonder., 2024

8’x10’x2”, Double-faced digital print on PVC vinyl and aluminum.
MAGICIANS, MUSICIANS & MYSTICS at Gallery 1053, Fleishmanns, NY
October 5 - November 17, 2024
Guest curation by Javier Magri + Carol McCranie

What does it take to believe in magic—something you can’t see or touch? Most definitely WIT, for without it there is no surprise or delight… without question, WILL, as it is the desire to believe in something other that allows it to be real… and WONDER, the curiosity that brings up possibility in the first place. It’s layered SEE-ing and the gestalt of filling missing bits with personal bits and the registration of that new unique “whole” in your brain that is the inspiration for “Wit, Will and Wonder,” a kaleidoscopically patterned portal made of collaged content connected to my ideas of magic. Some joyous and kid-like and others darker and informed by a more developed adult mind… some obvious, others not so much. There are images of Trix breakfast cereal, bound hands in gauze tape, soap bubbles, rabbit ears and magic wands. There are hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds as well as the work’s title itself, operating as the framework that the crazy-quilt-like composition hangs off of. It’s not only see through, it’s walk through and is an entirely different experience when viewed from the other side of the rainbow. But most importantly is about believing, either in the hand attached to your arm that opens the space for you to walk through or the idea that there is something greater waiting for you on the other side of whatever obstacle seems to be in front of you. “Oh, and ‘abracadabra’ did you know some believe its origin is from the Hebru phrase ‘ebrah k'dabri’ which means ‘I create as I speak.’”