Ghosts

A few months ago a new process emerged: making silhouettes of dancers from photographs, using graphite on vellum or trace. I've long collected photos of dancers with multiple figures in the same stance or with a powerful, nonspecific emotional charge. I have Mark Morris' l'allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato, which has spectacularly beautiful, forceful photographs. It's unusual, but every time I open the book I'm bowled over and think, "I've got to do something with my reaction to this."

Starting to draw the figure surprised me; its absence is defining in my work. In my midtwenties I started taking dance class, and felt I'd found the thing that was missing for me, the thing I should always have been doing. While it gave me some identity, I was late coming to it and knew it would remain a passionate hobby. In time I stopped, but I still wish for it.

The type of architectural photos I used in the Interiors collages of 2007 are still in my studio and still draw me in, though differently. I've begun to layer the dancers into these spaces.