Whirl and Dance

The stick figures symbolize the exuberance of contemporary dance, as well as the artist's singular experience making art.Acrylic on Wood Panel by Lucille NavaSize: 11x14About Lucille Nava All are in a series "A Little Like Love...," from the last line of the poem "Gravity and Levity." This is the concept driving the paintings: To fling my arms wide/In some place of the sun,/ To whirl and to dance/Till the white day is done.? (Langston Hughes, “Dream Variations”) These lines speak to the exaltation of freedom; it is a dance of change, of universal possibility, of a poet’s words that express hope. I have used the ecstasy of dance as a metaphor for the possibilities the painter approaches almost daily. My stick figures are interpretations of contemporary dancers’ forms we see for example, in the Alvin Ailey Company or A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham. We dance when the music speaks to us; we dance symbolically when the image moves us. At the start of each day, brush to canvas is the beginning o