THE PHRENOLOGY SERIES
While having pizza one afternoon in Venice, Italy I spied a waiter who had soccer designs carved into his hair. When asked to pose with his face against a wall, he cheerfully complied. The surprisingly mysterious photograph that resulted led to my series of monoprints called “Phrenology.” This pseudoscience based on measurements of the human skull as the location of character, thought, and emotion may be an apt metaphor for the surrealism that is Venice.
Peter Ackroyd in Venice, Pure City, mused that the city is a reality of a different order. It seems that Kafka would have understood Venice.
This work is dedicated to my friend and mentor, Steve Parks, who passed away while I was in Venice in 2013. Se la forma scompare, la sua radice e eternal. If the form disappears, its root is forever.