Legend of A Mind
From the Moody Blues:
“Timothy Leary’s dead.
No, no, no, no, He’s outside looking in.”
Breathe
A post-apocalyptic look at the environment with a hope for environmental redemption.
The Rorschach Series
Posted in Artist's Statements, Rorschach Series on November 1st, 2008
Artist’s Statement
I originally named this series because the early images – produced by folding, mirroring and overlaying existing images – called to mind the familiar inkblots of the Rorschach psychological test.
The name took on greater significance when I realized that, as an image became less recognizable, its original meaning became lost and new, more ambiguous meanings emerged. Often, those new meanings seemed to be projected onto the image by the viewer, revealing more about what the viewer brought to the image than what the image presented to the viewer.
As the artist, I experience these same in meaning shifts (sometimes several per image) during the creation of each piece. Occasionally I am able control the process but usually I find myself experimenting until the image “lets me know” what it wants to be. Often I find that what emerges connects deeply with my personal response to a memory, another work of art or even a bit of popular music. Those connections are often reflected in the titles I have given the works.
Barbie O’Keefe
Created as a collaborative work with Pat Quinn for the “Flowers” exhibit at the Edwardsville Arts Center.