Much of 1999 was spent on a series of paintings that was inspired by, and in honor of, corporate logos. The series began with “Vis-a-vis” in which the blue VISA logo evolves through “vis-à-vis” into the red AVIS logo. The same four letters make up each name, and the forms of the letters are very similar, requiring only the slightest metamorphosis. There is a loose symmetry and a tight rhythmic pattern in evidence, and the painting represents an anagram in progress. Continuing with the theme of anagrams as casual symmetry, I next parodied the Tide logo, reversing it to spell ediT, altering the way it reads, just as editors alter the way text reads. “Cerealism” immodestly and overstatedly refers to the group as a whole – Great Puns. Marlboro became Oral Word, assisted by inverting the M and mirroring the b into a d. That phase of the series culminated with “My Metaphysical Mirror.”
The anagram logos were followed by a series of cropped logos, beginning with the ZENITH logo cropped to say ZEN with the lightning bolt Z. Its title is “Enlightening.” “The Two Most Well-known Words in the World” piece came next after I heard on NPR that OK was the second most well known word in the world– only slightly less popular than the word Coke. Or was it the other way around?
Enlightenment 28" x 42" | enamel and oil on canvas | 1999
The Two Most Well-knownThe next phase involved the juxtaposition of unrelated logos, which brought some interesting results.
IHOP 24" x 15" | enamel on canvas | 2000
P&A 24" x 15" | enamel on canvas | 2001