Christ is Born

by Alden Cole on December 24, 2013 · 0 comments

ChristIsBorn'76WP

from the Christmas Past series, original pen & ink on paper, 16.375″ x 12.625″ framed in 24″ x 20″     $480 (see photo below)

also available as limited edition b&w prints, unframed: 14″ x 11″ on coated card stock     $20 including postage

1976. Bicentennial of American Independence. I was 32, in my 8th year in New York City, and my 2nd of two years of pilgrimage, changing addresses in Manhattan more frequently than I liked, spending periods of a few months in tiny resident-hotel rooms, with even briefer gigs apartment-sitting for friends, ranging from a couple weeks to a month or more. Despite the instability of frequent moves, I kept making art. Black & white work on paper was easy to do, easy to reproduce, easy to carry, requiring a minimum of supplies: paper and pencil, my favorite tool; plus paper and pen, using my second favorite tool, a triple 0 Rapidograph. During the ’70s and early ’80s I drew scores of complex drawings, peopled with hundreds of figures and faces, with my trusty Rapido, tracing streams of consciousness onto the page from deep inside the well of memory and desire.

ChristIsBornFramedWPToday’s fantasy in black and white was an extended meditation on the season, its symbols, as well as significance to myself as a kid growing up Christian in the country in Maine. At  the time of its creation, it was the most ambitious of my Christmas Works, pieces dealing with the season, a tradition started at age 18, naively dedicated to the ideals, and inspired by the aspirations, evoked by the holiday: Peace on Earth, Good Will to All.

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