Oil, Acrylic, Pastel, and Charcoal on Thrifted Canvas
This piece carries a layered history, both in its physical origins and its evolving meaning. The canvas originally came from a thrift store near my studio in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood during the first year of the COVID pandemic. Beneath the layers of paint lies the previous artist’s repetitive script—I love you, written over and over in the shape of a heart. A compulsive declaration, now partially obscured yet still present, echoing through the layers of my own work.
In reworking the canvas, I embraced repetition, layering rhythmic black blocks that resemble windows in an empty building or notes on a page. These forms mirror the obsessive nature of the original text but introduce new dimensions—suggesting both the weight of expression and the failure to fully convey emotion. The interplay of what remains visible and what is hidden speaks to the tension between communication and silence, intimacy and distance.
Touches of red, yellow, and blue invite interpretation, adding complexity to the otherwise structured composition. Hypergraphia is ultimately a meditation on persistence—on the ways we attempt to articulate meaning, even when words fall short.