TALES OF FORGOTTEN FAMILIARS
at HAVEN GALLERY, NORTHPORT, ny
One no longer needs to read a book to find out what the story is about. It is equally effortless to find the story of the author’s life.
Lost within the pages is the story of the person who once owned the book. Sometimes, there are underlined words, dog-eared pages, the person’s name written inside, which can give clues. Occasionally, there is an inscription – either by the owner or to the recipient from the bestower. Long before the book itself fades from public fancy, these participants have been forgotten, lost in time.
It is from these inscriptions, paired with bits of the author’s life and the story itself, that the entire spirit of the book has come to be, creating an entirely new chapter that is not the end, but a new beginning. These new characters have been conceived as “familiars.”
Familiars are said to be the spirits of our alter egos in the form of animal companions. They have a life all their own yet remain tethered to their human. And so these anthropomorphized animals carry the spirits of the book into today, telling their own story while also being trapped in yesterday, unable to cut the tie to their long since deceased human counterpart.
Lost within the pages is the story of the person who once owned the book. Sometimes, there are underlined words, dog-eared pages, the person’s name written inside, which can give clues. Occasionally, there is an inscription – either by the owner or to the recipient from the bestower. Long before the book itself fades from public fancy, these participants have been forgotten, lost in time.
It is from these inscriptions, paired with bits of the author’s life and the story itself, that the entire spirit of the book has come to be, creating an entirely new chapter that is not the end, but a new beginning. These new characters have been conceived as “familiars.”
Familiars are said to be the spirits of our alter egos in the form of animal companions. They have a life all their own yet remain tethered to their human. And so these anthropomorphized animals carry the spirits of the book into today, telling their own story while also being trapped in yesterday, unable to cut the tie to their long since deceased human counterpart.