cabin fever exhibit: letterpress art

Lisa Hersey, Cabin Fever

At first blush, Lisa Hersey’s exhibit Cabin Fever is familiar — the pieces consist of wood block printed capital letters layered in various patterns and colors on white canvas. The viewer may attempt to literally read what Hersey is trying to say, but the artist challenges this reflex. It isn’t until you step back and let the letters settle into shapes that the message becomes clear. In “I Run for Miles Just to Get a Taste” Hersey flips the letters “F,” “P,” “L,” “U,” and “I” every which way across half the canvas. The letters seem to jam up in the final quarter of the inked print with just the light edges of some red letters breaking past the dark noise into nothing, everything, freedom — it’s what you make it.

In each of her pieces, Hersey communicates humor and punctuates it with a snappy title. 

For example, “Prove to Me You Got Some Coordination” is a geometrical pattern of red “H”s and blue “T”s. After the 2016 election, it can’t be viewed as anything but political. The two contrast and intersect to create a tight, locking pattern that forms a circle in the center. After Trump’s first few months in office and the Syria attack, we have all the “proof” we need.

(VIA Valley Advocate, Springfield MA art review)  BOOM!

P>S> did you notice it's 7/11 at 11:11