Gordon Massman

Bio
I hold an MFA in creative writing and have published four volumes of poetry and poems in numerous journals in the US and Canada. I teach English at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. While poetry is my primary art, I enjoy and take seriously my visual work: the torching of crayons onto plywood boards to create complex and visually pleasing abstract representations of color and form. These pieces vary in size, the largest being 4' x 4' and involving as many as one thousand crayons, thickly applied, textured, and pushed with flame to bring up from the multiple layers complex mixtures of color and subtle shape. I hope to create images of lasting quality which are simply enjoyable to behold. My claims other than that are humble.

Statement

To repeat the above, I blow torch crayons onto plywood planks to create complex colorful images. My work is almost one hundred percent crayon, though I occasionally use small amounts of acrylics as background. These images range in size from 2' x 2' to 4' x 4', the largest being relatively heavy. Each piece is highly textured, thick, and full of motion (in that I push pools and waves of melted wax along the plywood to create the sense of motion and interplay). I have no illusions about the "greatness" of this work; I enjoy creating it and hope that others enjoy looking at it.