“Anonymous” - a mixed media sculpture of the messenger that transferred the primary symbols from one community or cave to another as graphic marks turned ideas into knowledge.
Visual communication is the foundation of my entire career. Signs and symbols, infer meaning through juxtaposition. One builds on another to add meaning. This is true in advertising, news reporting, or any visual medium. It has been true since people began marking cave walls 100,000 years ago.
The 32 symbols identified by Genevieve von Petzinger are displayed on the perimeter of the cape of this messenger.
Several years ago, I heard a Ted Talk by Genevieve von Petzinger on “The First Signs” which documented her research on the signs and symbols that appeared repeatedly throughout caves across Europe. She used the term “graphic communication” which immediately caught my attention. I’ve read the book several times. Last week, I completed a sculpture that combines my imagination with her findings. “Anonymous” is the working title for this hybrid human/bird/stag figure drape in cape that displays the 32 symbols von Petzinger identified as perhaps the first proto-alphabet.