of letters written in Yiddish, Russian,
Polish and English — capture pages
from old books and diaries. He found
em through dealers of antiquarian
objects and during
travels to foreign
lands.
While the base
,documents are old,
he draws them into
today with his
imaging process,
ometimes with
the help of a com-
puter. After coping
with dyslexia, he
often responds to
text on a graphic
level rather than
deciphering the
meaning of the
words.
"I can take an
original document
and make a copy
of it using a mono-
type flash, a litho-
graphic process,"
Adam Siegel paints
the artist explained.
"Each one is individ-
ual. I form them individually, using
the original as the plate and then ink-
ing by hand.
"It gives me a very expanded range
of capabilities to be able to take a
document and change its color, tex-
ture and feeling of age. There are
many pieces where I've manipulated
two or three distinctly different docu
ments together, fused them through
my own chemical and technical
processes and made totally new docu-
ments."
Siegel's pictorial artistry seems
almost elemental and abstract at first.
Ultimately, the pictures reveal them-
selves, often in the forms of birds or
fish.
"I'm saying let's take these things
that have a natural beauty and use
that beauty in a way I see fit in
today's way of seeing things," Siegel
said. "I think that accepting the origi-
nal beauty of these older documents
and fusing them together with a tern-
perament and vision that I have today
is a contemporary way of dealing with
things.
"My process is intuitive. I look at
the whole plethora of documents
available to me, and I start off choos-
ing some that engage me, thinking
what they might say and where they
might go.
"I can start with a document with-
out understanding the narrative but

-

loving the arrangement of the page. I
look at the graphics and make
assumptions about what the writer
was feeling. These are embarking
points to build a
work."
Bird Song,
depicting the
polarities of con-
tainment and
structure versus
liberation and
flight, combines a
document pur-
chased in Portugal,
excerpts from a
French prayer-
book, hand-col-
ored engravings, a
painting of a bird
and a geometrical
shape.
Siegel, whose
late father was a
photographer and
whose mother is a
painter, labels 50
percent of his
on text.
works as religious
and shows a prefer-
_ ence for water-based media.
"I am now working in two dis-
tinctly different directions," Siegel
said. "One is works on paper because
I'm captivated by small, intimate
images that can project things in a
powerful way. At the same time, I'm
working on canvas in a much larger
format, using figurations as well as
complete abstractions.
"Some of the visual issues I'm
working with on paper also are being
worked on with canvas, but the idea
of text is no longer there. Layering,
shapes and color issues carry into
both bodies of work."
Siegel has used the Chicago Jewish
Archives at the Spertus Institute of
Jewish Studies to find Yiddish letters
and texts as the foundation for some
of his works.
While the Spertus display is tem-
porary, his images regularly are shown
and sold through the Thomas
McCormick Works of Art in Chicago.

Wishing
our customers a
Happy and
Prosperous
New Year!

H ARMONYHOUSE
4 t 4611,

.

F

FARMINGTON HILLS

30830 Orchard Lk. Rd. (S. of 14 Mile)
248-626-4533

KNIGHTSBRIDGE ANTIQUE MALL

Michigan's Largest High Quality Antique Mall

We have a Large Selection of .. .
• Stained Glass Windows • Jewelry
• Prints & Pictures
• Pottery
• Vintage Clothing
• Books
• Advertising
• Toys
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David Klein Gallery

163 TOWNSEND BIRMINGHAM MI 48009
TELEPHONE 248. 433. 3700 FAX 248. 433. 3702

dk@dkgallery.com http://www.dkgallery.com/-dk

am.Siegeli'Works on
ords".cOntinues . at the Spertus
S. Mich ga Avg.,
though Jan. 4. Mti$tnin.

Sunday Wedne s day;
Thursday;

Friday:2C100 Saturdays For
(512)...322-1747.

i xformat on call

DIAMOND BAKERY

WISHES ALL OUR FRIENDS
AND CUSTOMERS A MOST

HAPPY and HEALTHY
NEW YEAR

6722 Orchard Lake Rd.
West Bloomfield

248-626-2212

9/26
1997

97