Mixed Media

The LATE Series

The LATE Series
“…death – The undiscover’d country, from whose bourne No traveler returns… ”
–Shakespeare (Hamlet)

LATE is a group of small carved wood sculptures of caskets. Highly painted and decorated, some are closed, some open to reveal more symbolic imagery. Each of the 30 caskets commemorates a favorite illustrious person from the past – artists, inventors, renegades………

LATE is the first series in THE FINAL FRONTIER - the overall title of a collection of series investigating, in a visually acute and sometimes humorous manner, mortality.

Throughout history death has inspired different beliefs in different cultures: AN END. A RELEASE. A PROCESS. A JOURNEY. A TRANSFORMATION.

Nevertheless, people today, especially in Western nations, are out of touch with the process of death and dying. Indeed, death in the 20th and 21st centuries is treated much as sex was in the 19th century – avoided in speech or spoken of in euphemisms, hidden, codified, and protected with rituals and taboos.

The MARK Portraits

The MARK series, mixed media works on rag paper, explores issues of identity – images treated theatrically yet with a strong base of hypothetical reality.

Using images of the same face, photographed with blank expression, I have cloaked the subject’s individuality and transformed him by ‘redecorating’ his attire, his hair, and the background.

As he metamorphoses from eleventh-century knight to American cowpoke to fifteenth-century lady-in-waiting, his very singularity disappears. And he becomes…. whatever he is wearing. IDENTITY :::::::: fluid, interactive, negotiable, ethereal.

How important is outward appearance? Virtually all of our perceptions regarding others are first formed via visual cues. And of course in recent years, the whole concept of “profiling” is of immense consequence.

These invented ‘portraits’ are created by overlaying various media (oil pastels, crayon, colored pencil) on top of a stark, stripped-down photograph ink-jet printed on heavy rag paper, then scratching through the surface to get unusual textures and color effects. The only part of the paper left untouched is the essence of facial structure.

Just as photographer Cindy Sherman (no relation) and painter Karen Kilimnik create a multitude of exotic universes by transforming themselves with costumes, props, and settings, so do the MARK pieces convey the countless possibilities found within all of us.

There are a total of 17 pieces in this series.

Contact Information

Philadelphia, PA
e-mail:
www.shermanhayman.com
Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Education

Hollins College (Hollins University), Hollins, VA

Private instruction, Paris, France

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelpha, PA

Collections

The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA

Progress Bank Corporate Headquarters, Huntsville, AL

E. I. DuPont de Nemours Corp, Wilmington, DE

CIGNA, New York & Wilmington

The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

2008
Rosenfled Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2007
Main Line Unitarian Gallery, Wayne, PA

2005
Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA

2003
Abington Art Center, Abington, PA

1999
Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE

1998
Esther M. Klein Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1997
Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA

1994
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA

1992
Franz Bader Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1990
Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1988
Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1986
Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1984
Suzanne Gross Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1982
Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1981
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA

Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Group

2009
Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA

2007
Across & Between, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
Juried Exhibition

2006
New Work by Past Artists, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA

2005
Functional Forms, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2005
Myth, Magic & Meaning, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
Juried Exhibition

2004
The Philadelphia Foundation Exhibition, presented by The Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Barbara Wallace

Drawing Conclusions, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD
Juried Exhibition

2003
Small Works, Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, MA
Juried Exhibition

2002-2003
15 Exposures, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Alumni, USArtists, Philadelphia, PA

2001
Works on Paper, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA
Juried Exhibition

2000
Art Works / Water Works, The Shops at Liberty Place, Philadelphia, PA
Fairmount Park Commission Invitational

Art of the State, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
Juried Exhibition

Multiples, The Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
Juried Exhibition

1998
Patricia C. Phillips studio visit, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
Brochure with essay
Juried Exhibition

1997-1998
Window installation, The Artfront Partnership, Philadelphia, PA

1997
Works on Paper Biennial, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA

1996
Just Jazz, Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1995
Art of the State, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
Juried Exhibition
Third prize

Color Now, The Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
Juried Exhibition

1994
Works by Women Artists, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA

1991
Secret Views, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA

1990
Art Furniture – Furniture Art, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE

1988
Small Works, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1985
Fragments Assembled, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA

1984
Ten Philadelphia Artists, Villanova University, Villanova, PA