photo by: Ben Watkins
From 1990 to 2015, the artist made drawings using pencil with ink washes, using mylar, a type of plastic once used by architects to create blue prints, as a support. Unlike paper, it takes multiple corrections well – the artist was charmed that ink washes could be removed with Windex.
He made prints with some of these drawings, blueprints or sepia prints, using a diazo machine, a process once common in architectural practices. Some of these were then tipped into books made by June Keller the artist’s wife.
Series of drawings dominate, with angels, often accompanied by aircraft, aloft over Brighton Beach, various stops on the London Underground and the New York City Subway System, or witches riding their broomsticks over Rte. 29 near Greenwich, New York.
Groups of angels constitute many of the series, such as the Angels of the Days of the Week or the Angelic Governors of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac. Groups of witches are on their way to the sabbat, showing off to each other as they ride three-legged stools or broomsticks while stopping at traffic lights.
The Plague Sheets are the last of these groupings.