NIKKI ROSATO
MONICA ZERINGUE
Moon of Other Days, 2013
graphite and hand-sewn beads on primed linen
13.5 x 13.5 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Cerberus, 2012
graphite on claybord
13 x 13 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Fountain, 2011
graphite on claybord
13 x 13 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Three Knots, 2008
graphite on claybord
13 x 13 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Hydra (study), 2010
graphite on claybord
13 x 17 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Shewolf, 2012
graphite on primed linen
31 x 41 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Ophelia Descending, 2012
graphite on primed linen
41 x 31 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Uphill, 2013
graphite on primed linen
13 x 13 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Take Only What You Need, 2013
graphite on primed linen
13 x 13 inches
MONICA ZERINGUE
Cloak, 2012
graphite on primed linen
23 x 31 inches
NIKKI ROSATO
Connections, 2013
hand cut road map
20 x 16 inches
NIKKI ROSATO
Connections, 2013
hand cut road map
20 x 16 inches
NIKKI ROSATO
Untitled (Connections), 2014
hand cut road map
9 x 5 inches
NIKKI ROSATO
Untitled (Connections), 2014
hand cut road map
9 x 6.25 inches
NIKKI ROSATO
Connections, 2013
hand cut road map
16 x 20 inches
NIKKI ROSATO
Connections, 2010
hand cut road map
11 x 14 inches
NIKKI ROSATO
Untitled (Mouth to Mouth 3), 2014
hand cut road map
9 x 6.5 inches
MICHAEL PAJON
Sums and Summits, 2013
mixed media collage with hand drawing on cabinet card
7 x 5.75 inches
MICHAEL PAJON
Still Silent as Prey, Far from Escape, 2013
mixed media collage with hand drawing on tin type
10.5 x 8.5 inches
A newly-wed couple appear far from happy in this portrait, perhaps an arrangement of convenience which was not uncommon given the time period. Like a snail slowly eating the flowers in a garden a slow and steady deconstruction of something beautiful. Once entered into these kinds of contracts it was difficult to escape, snagged in the spider’s web, the ring round ones finger a constant reminder. Losing your sense of place in the world and seeking only the passage of time to hopefully bridge the gaps between family and devotion.
MICHAEL PAJON
Dr. Swift's Cure for Hysteria, 2013
mixed media collage with hand drawing on tin type
7 x 6 inches
"Female hysteria was a once-common medical diagnosis (distinct from male hysteria), made exclusively in women, which is today no longer recognized by medical authorities as a medical disorder. Its diagnosis and treatment were routine for many hundreds of years in Western Europe. Hysteria of both genders was widely discussed in the medical literature of the nineteenth century. Women considered to be suffering from it exhibited a wide array of symptoms, including faintness, nervousness, sexual desire, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in the abdomen, muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, and "a tendency to cause trouble".[2] In extreme cases, the woman might be forced to enter an insane asylum or to undergo surgical hysterectomy." –wikipedia
This woman’s husband has chosen to accompany his wife to Dr. Swift’s ranch where peace and quiet and time spent in nature is said to be the cure for hysteria. The ‘patients’ at the ranch were treated with the usual elixir to calm the nerves, and all were encouraged to frequent the gardens and socialize and share their experiences. Gardening activities were planned for most afternoons, and after a few too many rounds of elixir the women would take to running through the gardens singing favorite songs to one another. A sign of joyousness and sisterhood encouraged as a great stride toward their ‘recovery’.
MICHAEL PAJON
Loose Knots, Rope Burn, and a Superior Marquee, 2014
mixed media collage on book cover
17 x 14.5 inches
This portrait of a theater-rigging expert, a job I once occupied but was far from an expert at. In the steady decline from ‘respectable’ theater productions to vaudeville to peep-shows, what our hero is most proud of what remains constant, the marquee. It’s gilded glow and chasing lights a spectacle of pure beauty and joy. The riggers life in a decrepit theater has its hazards, a few cracks to the skull from a light swinging free or a near miss from a sandbag come unknotted. The productions come and go, but it his heart ever remains among the catwalks, ropes and curtains that allow the stagecraft to seamlessly unfold for audience after audience.
MICHAEL PAJON
A Steady Gaze, and a Matadors Nerve, 2014
mixed media collage on antique book cover
18 x 15 inches
The son of a matador, a nod to Goya's bullfighting series; we observe a man at odds with himself. He enjoys the dreamer’s pursuits of collecting butterflies, identifying constellations, and reading poetry. He would attend his father's bullfights only after much pleading from his friends. He was, however, drawn to the beauty of the women and the various flowers they sold; the simple beauty of a carnation or the thorned and guarded petals of a rose. His life is a juxtaposition of hyper-masculinity and brutality, coupled with a boy’s love for his father and his passion for the beautiful and ephemeral.
MICHAEL PAJON
The Man with the Gilded Face, 2014
mixed media collage on antique book cover
20 x 16.5 inches
Much of the history of modern electric tattooing owes a great debt to sailors and the traveling Circus’s and sideshows that were so popular in their day. Here is a circus relic, face covered in filigree that so lovingly adorns book covers, wrought-iron fences and fine lace. Most likely a performer as well as an artist he grew accustomed to the stares of children and the slack jawed gaze of the public. After all the pageantry of the circus was what drew him to a life on the move, a chance to travel the world. I borrowed certain design elements as nods to the tattoo machines, the fist with bolts of electricity was borrowed from a telegraph emblem…the first machines were actually modified telegraph pens a device that died quickly with the invention of the telephone. If you can glean one piece of advice from this piece, never trust a man with a pinky ring.
MICHAEL PAJON
Warmth and Life, Purl and Flow, 2014
mixed media collage on book cover
18.5 x 15.5 inches
Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician for which the Hippocratic oath is named after, is believed to be the father of medicine. He wrongly believed that the liver and spleen were the center of the body and that all blood flowed from them into the heart. His poetic descriptions of it’s movement through the arterial system are where the ‘purl and flow’ of the title are borrowed not to mention his unflinching dedication to heal his fellow man. The two central figures are describing the, now standard, image of the pulmonary arterial systems and stand as symbols of my personal support for the equal right to marriage for the LGBTQ community. There is great fanfare and salutation in this piece, as much has changed over the past decade and there is much to celebrate. There are those who will continue to argue that being gay is a ‘choice’ like a pulling a rabbit out of a hat, while others will simply fume and blow smoke until their opinion simply dies out. The Serpent of Eden attempting to cast it’s shadow upon the future, but the heart remains steadfast and its currents run fast and true to the ones we hold most dear.
MICHAEL PAJON
A Beat of the Heart, A Flick of the Tongue, 2014
mixed media collage on antique book cover
18 x 15 inches
I created this piece with the intention of honoring the women in my life. I’ve been lucky to share their love as family, friends, and partners and my respect for them knows no bounds. This amalgamation of incredible women appears at peace though she is beset upon by a den of vipers and its handlers. A vulturous gaze descends upon her, rending her scalp, yet here grace in the face of such pressure becomes unnerving. She wears tattoos upon her skin like armor; each line etched into her skin a scarred link in her chainmail. The term jezebel is taken from Hebrew Book of Kings which tells the story of a princess who was executed for causing the death of an innocent landowner by slandering him. She was known for wearing fine clothing and wearing makeup and the term later became slang for ‘painted ladies’ or prostitutes. I choose to employ it here, our heroine flying it proudly as a banner for all to see, her demeanor echoing ‘bring it’. She is symbolic of the strength, beauty, poise and empathy that all women possess.
MICHAEL PAJON
Baptised by the Sea in Flayed Skin and Coral Crown, 2014
mixed media collage on antique book cover
22 x 16 inches
A Prohibition-era St Bartholomew, St Bartholomew was one of the 12 apostles whose martyrdom has been depicted heavily in Catholic iconography. He was flayed alive and his body cast into the sea. Apparently recovered as there are many relics attributed to St Bartholomew that exist throughout Italy. One such miracle attributed to one of these relics is that of a silver statue that weighed many kilos that was almost melted down during the Nazi occupation but survived as being recorded to only weigh grams, St Bartholomew is credited with many other miracles having to do with the weight of objects. Appropriately this depiction places in him the role of prohibition era smuggler, the weight of objects often being the kind of sleight of hand required to move black market goods. He has suffered a similar fate, skinned alive and cast into the sea, but in this depiction the sea is lifting him up a miracle unaccounted for, the returning of St Bartholomew’s body by the sea, the corals and bottom feeders of the sea clinging to him, their virulence feeding off that power.
MICHAEL PAJON
Of Saints and Serpents, 2014
mixed media on antique book cover
19 x 16 inches
This piece is meant to read as a kind of reliquary, the skull of an unknown saint with a golden halo, his/her fate as mysterious as what lies beyond the stars in the heavens. Serpents twist and coil in and out of what remains. Life coiling amongst death, flowers left as offering to those who suffer from life’s many ailments. A flock gathers below amongst the tombstones of the long forgotten, birdsong fills the air like a hymnal despite the fork-tongued devils. A pair of brave and stalwart herons approach to dispatch the serpents infesting the remains of their forgotten saint.
MICHAEL PAJON
The Sincerity of Death and Roses, 2014
mixed media collage on antique book covers
19 x 16 inches
MICHAEL PAJON
This Ghostly Dance, So Soon, Shall End, 2014
mixed media collage on antique book covers
11 x 21 inches
MICHAEL PAJON
Asterion Awaits His Offerings, 2014
mixed media collage on antique book covers
16 x 32 inches
