I had an epiphany when I rediscovered a series of doodles or scribbles that I had been creating all my artistic life. These doodles were folded away in drawers on scraps of paper, newspapers, and other project folders. They hung in my closet directly on the pant legs of my jeans. Created while concentrating on something else, the drawings flowed unconsciously and uncontrollably from my hands to the closest writing surface. Characterized by freshness and fluidity and wrought with implied meanings, they were created without preconceived notions or intent to exhibit. I consider them to be “found objects” not unlike the cave paintings that the surrealist artist Brassaï photographed and then titled Unintentional Poetry in the 1930s. The doodles draw attention to the small voices within us, the nuances of the mind that mostly go ignored or unrecognized. I took these doodles, increased their scale, drew patterns from them, and transformed them into neon drawings. Almost incidentally, I decided to show the reverse side of these works that reveals the mechanics of the pieces. They are run by over 30 transformers, generating 270,000 volts of electricity. The power of neon transforms the forgotten into the remembered. The Unintentional Drawings are no longer small and insignificant; they now stand on their own as momentous and meaningful. I am reminded of Brassaï's observation that “beauty is not the goal of art, but its reward.”​

Cave Symbols

I was particularly drawn to what are referred to as "signs" or symbols which may be the earliest known marks of all. Previously, researchers and artists had concentrated on the pictorials, figurative drawings and paintings of mostly animals, ones that were hunted and those who were most feared. The "signs" translate into contemporary abstract image making partially because they have a universal quality. Starting with the line, they progress through dots, cubes, penninforms (drawn here), ovals, claviforms and finally the vulva. These marks, made by the flickering light of a fat lamp appear to be moving in the caves. What I have drawn here is inspired by my experience in the caves - in this case penninforms drawn with charcoal and pigments found in the Niaux cave. I have lit the drawing with a flickering light, in a similar way early Homo Sapiens drew deep in the ancient caves.

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I went specifically to view, first hand, drawings made by early Homo Sapiens from approximately 40,000 BP, the very oldest marks to date. This trip is the next step in my inquiry into the universal human urge to mark - from ancient time through contemporary art making. The trip was strenuous: six days of hiking through rice patties, over uneven, rough ground, ending in 10-50' rock climbs up the mountains to explore the ancient caves. It was a profound experience and it has already reorganized my conceptual approach to mark making.

Considering the literature, my own direct experience with ancient drawing and painting, my Unintentional Drawings, the Ground Zero graffiti and my Cave Drawings, it has become clear to me that the universal urge to mark is actually a universal urge to connect, through mark-making, to something deep within us, possibly to a higher power or spiritual world outside of ourselves. The universality is strongly suggested by the fact that over 40,000 years ago Homo Sapiens evolved out of Africa and migrated to both Europe and Asia and arrived to make the same symbol: the hand stencil.

Namibia, Africa