"Prayers for Rain'' (mixed media with lichen on canvas), by Dominick Takis, in the group show "Surface'' (with Ruth LaGue and George Shaw) July 8-Aug. 16 at the Gallery at Spencer Lofts, Chelsea, Mass.
The gallery writes:
‘’Dominick Takis incorporates lichen into his surfaces as a weight and balance for composition; he is mostly interested in its textures and patterns. Lichen has an ancient and weathered look: he references civilizations that revered the stone circle as a symbol of the connection between the harmony of nature and the cosmos. The patterns of the lichen appeared on man-made Dolmens and portal tombs as well as naturally on stone.
"He began to read more about lichen and it's symbiotic relationship to algae; how they create their own existence, yet are attached. He found parallels in his own life; the distance that comes from independence, yet still remaining attached to my ancestors and culture. An outcropping of land, a farmhouse, a church or a graveyard may take on greater significance when it contains some familial connection. This became apparent when traveling through his ancestral Sicily and in his wife's native Ireland. Whether figurative or intellectual, there is a symbiotic relationship with his ancestors and culture and it informs his art.’’
Note from Robert Whitcomb: As kids living next to granite outcroppings, my four siblings and I were mystified that a plant such as lichen could live with no visible source of food on bare rock, and we found lichen's subtle blue, gray and green colors eerily lovely.
