The Iliad, A new translation 2001 - 2003 A series of twenty-four works on paper. A cyclical event of the human condition.

“Ilium is a state of mind.”(1)

All 15,693 lines of Homer's Iliad are hand-scribed in this series of works on paper. Each painting contains an entire book [chapter] based on Richmond Lattimore's translation. These are not illustrations, nor are they manuscripts, but through acute attention to the narrative, the handwriting process becomes an integral part of each piece, echoing the essence of action.
The art of making physical marks and tactile words is departing in the 21st century.  The keyboard is now the scribe. These images are the result of writing while reading. Paint lays out the space while shapes and words build the composition and depth. No lines were used to build the images - the words acted as gestural lines. When sentences were grouped, they produced shapes and sometimes lines fell apart to accentuate feelings. Each work was built out of itself.
Using this process, words actively transposed into simple markings and in turn build up into layered imagery and forms as authorized by the words themselves.
Three millennia later, this work has been translated into a multitude of languages, changing ever slightly each time.

The Iliad series began in July 2001 and was completed in November 2003. During its creation, many significant world events unfolded before us often mirroring the Greek epic, and validated the notion that our unfolding history is in fact cyclical. The Iliad continues to exist as a contemporary work exposing the human condition for better or worse.
“The gods in the Iliad represent projections of feelings or activities of the observed world." (2)

Power, Fear, Hatred, Envy, Compassion, Honor, Humility, Sleep, and Death are personified.

(1-2) Lattimore