Language has been seeping into my work, insinuating itself for the past ten years. In this body of work, I am continuing my interest in the intersection of text and image, and especially the evolution of the image as an analogy or shadow of the text. Having developed from the use of actual language and its’ development, the forms become a personal hieroglyph.

Placing cut-out shapes under drafting vellum, the images are created by sanding back through multiple layers of acrylic which have been painted on the vellum. This is then mounted onto a wood panel. I continue working additively with paint and collage, as well as the continuation of sanding. The amount of sanding determines how the various layers of colors are revealed, sometimes creating images that seem embedded in the surface of the painting. In the most recent pieces, much of the composition is created by the accretion of forms, building the compositions physically. They appear more topographical or map-like; the surfaces are readable in an additional way, creating another kind of analogy to language. The built-up layers of color act as grounds or fields for the forms, which are either held in by the space, or float through and out of the frame.

The Glyphs series relate to a previous group of works, in which I had been investigating how language emerges, the evolution from sound to word to thought. As in the earlier projects, the images are built by layering and eradicating over a long period of time, revealing in them a history and accumulation, comparable to language acquisition. The compositions of these works are themselves a result of accumulated shapes. I have also long been fascinated with the issue of voice, and the correspondence of sound.

The series attempts to resolve the conversation I am always having in my work – between wanting to reveal all, and the desire to obliterate. It is as if the pieces themselves need to speak.

–Deborah Davidson