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$$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$
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Book of Durrow, fol. 192v, ca. 700 AD, possibly from Durrow, County Offaly, Ireland; Image in the public domain taken from Wikipedia.
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The Book of Durrow may not be a household name, but in the rarefied world of medieval scholarship this small gospel book is a work to be reckoned with. To the monks who created it thirteen centuries ago, the text was especially important; today, we concentrate on the art; and, sometime in between, a farmer cured sick cows by dunking it in their drinking water. So what is it? A religious text, an art object, a producer of miracles, or all three? It’s hard to say, because the meaning keeps changing.
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© Bill Travis, Seduction, mixed media, including digital prints and transfers on mother of pearl, mounted on a dark blue plastic board, 2022. Click on picture for purchase information.
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Maybe all art is like the Book of Durrow. Just when you think you’ve pinned down the meaning, somebody comes along and pulls out the rug.
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I like this idea of unstable meaning. It speaks to growth and evolution and the sense of life pulsing through a work of art. If it has any depth at all, a painting or a photograph is able to accommodate the mess of life around it. If it’s unable to grow, it was probably dead to start with.
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© Bill Travis, Seduction, mixed media, including digital prints and transfers on mother of pearl, mounted on a dark blue plastic board, 2022. Detail. Click on picture for purchase information.
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The work I’m highlighting today is a composite of 25 images downloaded from the Internet, reinterpreted by abstracting the scenes and using different techniques, including transfers on mother of pearl, matte and glossy prints, acrylic paint, and scratching. The variety creates interesting light effects as the piece changes appearance over the course of the day and even at the same moment as you move around it.
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© Bill Travis, Seduction, mixed media, including digital prints and transfers on mother of pearl, mounted on a dark blue plastic board, 2022. Detail. Click on picture for purchase information.
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Many of the details are difficult to read at first. I wanted the piece to slowly reveal itself. The initial approach, to my mind, conjures up patterns, color, and joy, in other words, what we get out of interacting with another person in the most intimate way.
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So I think it’s safe to say that my images have nothing to do with Irish gospel books from the Middle Ages or any other period. I hope, though, that they will stimulate a reaction. Send me your readings, test this work’s power to perform minor miracles, or give it to a cow.
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© Bill Travis, Seduction, mixed media, including digital prints and transfers on mother of pearl, mounted on a dark blue plastic board, 2022. Detail. Click on picture for purchase information.
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In closing…I will be giving a free talk about my work in Munich, Germany, in early May (date TBD). The talk focuses on a recent series featuring a dystopian view of the world influenced by the war on Ukraine. Please write for details.
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Want to catch up on past newsletters? Check out the archive!Please encourage your friends to visit my website and sign up for my newsletter, which is free and comes out once a month.
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