7"×10" archival giclée print on acid-free double-weight Somerset Velvet printmaking paper from pen & ink on bristol. 2006. Series limited to five prints.

Black & white is more than ink and paper; it represents all extremes. Yet wherever we look for absolute values like right and wrong, we find those extremes woven tightly together. Black is still black and white still white, but can we pull them apart?

My drawing process mirrors my philosophical predilections. While normally «black and white thinking» should be considered a flaw, I wonder if the mistake is in looking for the extremes or simply in failing to recognize the complexities that make things appear muddied or shaded. If gray tones can be made to appear from a series of black lines on white paper, then perhaps moral «gray areas» don't come from the blending of right and wrong or from the existence of a continuous spectrum, but rather of the complex intermingling of right and wrong that must be evaluated separately in order to weigh the implications.

Or perhaps I'm just a black and white thinker who is too stubborn to let go of it.