Immaculate Organicism
They are small and mighty!
Ancestral entities
Terrestrial traders in food
Unifying all that is living
Absorbing all that passes
Educating our immune systems
So we may run
We owe them everything!
They feed us with their waste
They protect our bodies as little warriors
They make oxygen, so we may breathe, and sing
On our tongues, they taste
On our bodies they shield
In our cells, they energize
They unify all living things
Humans, fish, plants, and fungi
They seed the clouds bringing rain
river, and sea
So root, leaf, and stalk can sprout
They make our bread, cheese, and wine
so we may eat and laugh
They offer the miracle of digestion
so we may dance and see
They are the unsung heroes of times past
That have symbiotically joined with us
We are them, and they are us.
The microbes.
By Ken Rinaldo
These works are collages created with permanent markers, colored pencils, and markers. Most of the magazine was from an Art Institute of Chicago alumni publication that was sent to our home as both teaching and graduates of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Images that occurred on each page were suggested extensions of the image. The iconography is biomorphic and suggestive of microbial life.
Forms appear to be communicating with others through chemicals and passing information from one to the other.
Many are forming feet, wings, or branching extensions characteristic of some bacteria or fungi. They appear to suggest relations between different dimensions and perspectives creating a sense
images that appear to be windows into worlds, that then come back to the surface of the page with the drawings. Each work is created on 8 1/2 by 11 acid-free drawing paper.
Some seem to suggest human or animal forms, while others have surfaces and colors, which are clearly architectonic in their approach.
I very much enjoyed playing with color in these works and also composing a poem about microbes; fungi, bacteria, and archaea covering all, and very much a part of our survival.
Exhibitions
ANTONIO PRATES GALLERY Lisbon Portugal, June 2022
A one-person exhibition of new works inspired by the intertwining of human and machine interactions. Invited by Antonio Prates in collaboration with Centro Portuguese de Serigraphia and Joao Prates.