The Artwork of
Lloyd Grey Held
Statement About My Artwork
On the surface level, this series of drawings is about
bodies: the beauty of the human form, the expressive quality of a gesture, a
touch, or a glance. The way we hold and move our bodies is a language that
is often more revealing than the words we use to communicate with each
other. Animals use body language to communicate with one another. People do
too. These drawings speak from the place of our innate knowledge of body
language.
Come of Age
|
Hold Pat
|
Passage
|
Welcome
|
But the drawings are not just about bodies, but about
spirit, too. My artwork is an effort to hold the opposites of body and
spirit in a dynamic balance. In the drawings, the bodies yearn to become
spirit, but at the same time the spirit is firmly grounded in the body. This
is the challenge we all face as human beings: of keeping these two aspects
of our nature in balance.
The way that the bodies interact in these drawings reveal
the underlying emotional and spiritual relationships: between father
and son, husband and wife, a man and his work It is oftentimes
difficult for us to find the words that precisely express our feelings about
our most intimate relationships, our attitudes about work or career, and our
concerns for our children and the world they'll inherit. These drawings are
a way for me to give form to these feelings and, hopefully, they'll strike a
chord with others.
On a design level, the drawings are like puzzles in the way
that one form fits with another form. For example, in one drawing, the
curvature of the father's leg blends with the curvature of his son's back.
In another drawing, the dancers' bodies mesh seamlessly together. This
physical connection is a metaphor for an emotional and a spiritual one.
On another level, the work is about pictorial relationships:
between figure and ground, curves and straight lines, dark and light areas,
movement and stillness. Movement, in particular, is a major concern in these
drawings. The cyclical format of many of these drawings contributes to way
we "move" through them. In "Father and Son Reunited,"
for example the movement is like gentle eddies of water, while in
"Welcome" the movement is like a pinwheel spinning. The movement,
as much as the pictorial content, helps create the mood and the energy.
By focusing on the movement aspect, the drawings become
contemplative mandalas that can be experienced for their cyclical geometry.
As do traditional Oriental mandalas, these mandala drawings can help us
focus our energy and hold the body and the spirit in a dynamic balance.
Lloyd (Grey) Held
658 Watertown Street
Newtonville, MA 02160
617.630.1661
EMAIL: lloyd@cansino.com |
