Collaged telephone books, oil pastel, pigment ink, acrylic paint, on canvas.
16 x 18
In this painting, I wanted to experiment with how different pigments would behave on a highly textured canvas. Using recycled phonebooks and white glue, I created a rough, slightly crinkled base reminiscent of old fabric. On that, I chose to paint a very stylized portrait over a backdrop of the Old Norse epic poem “Grímnismál,“ which describes the daily flight of Odin’s ravens, Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory). By combining these elements, I wanted to create a piece that evoked a very old, primitive feel, in keeping with the poem’s theme of the priceless quality of memory:
Huginn ok Muninn fliúga hverian dag
Iörmungrund yfir
Óomk ek of Huginn, at hann aptr ne komit
þó siámk meirr um Muninn
(Translation)
The whole world wide, every day,
Fly Huginn and Muninn
I worry, lest Huginn should fall in flight
Yet more I fear for Muninn
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