No I like flags | 2021-2024
No I like flags continues from the hand stitched industrial wool felt banner-like wall pieces of a uniform hieroglyphic, the preceding body of work, and further develops long established processes that include the transplantation of cutout letters, letter-derived and pictogram-like shapes. These works hover in the space between two and three dimensions. Shapes are cut out and then inlaid (and stitched) into position not unlike marquetry, requiring exactness. The tension of the stitches causes subtle dimensional flare-ups that further animate the work. The hand stitching, a doomed attempt at regularity, is in opposition to the compressed chaos that is felt. I think of the stitching as a form of physical drawing. Most of the work begins with cast-offs or remains of earlier pieces: cutout shapes and the grounds from which they have been cut with untidy edges 'as is' suggesting history and the desire for repair and renewal.
In 2022, BlueBear was shown in Poem Objects, a group exhibition, at april april in Brooklyn, and both works of felt and works-on-paper were shown in The World Develops Blank Spots, a four-person exhibition, at Margaret Thatcher Projects, Manhattan. This one which they think I think is alone was made specifically for the inaugural exhibition, Afloat Afield, at Long Play Contemporary, Santa Monica, CA. This group exhibition also included a selection of charcoal drawings from an earlier body of work.