Merret Hennes: Plot Twist

 

Painting With Words, Writing With Color

1. “I’ve always been a writer. The written word always comes first when I’m doing a painting,” Ms. Elsayed, 44, of Palisades Park, said during a recent walk-through of the exhibition, which runs through Feb. 2. “For me, the language becomes the artwork.”

2. The site-specific installation was inspired by the poet William Carlos Williams. Instead of painting words on her canvas, Ms. Elsayed wrote a separately published poem to accompany the work. In the poem, she cites a letter Williams wrote to his publisher about “how he fluctuates between doubt and drive,” she said.

“That’s such a real feeling, and something we don’t often see in a work of art,” Ms. Elsayed said. “We see the prizewinning piece” — not the nagging insecurities that may have accompanied its creation.

When Artists Create Flags - Artworks of Creative Time’s Pledges of Allegiance Project

1.   “A flag that embodies art’s ability to channel political passion, raise awareness and unify.”

2. “With her flag design, she envisions a global cartographic context that is more just and fluid, where all people have dignity, regardless of their nationality.” Tania Bruguera