Andrea Zemel DEMOCRAZY 1996 Edition of 2 20" x 40" x 4" Text by Joe Brennan Letterpress and block print on waxed rice paper, steel, leather, sinew, wood Invented binding Edition of 2 Images are unique in their capacity to predate language as a form of memory. Like dreams, they contain primitive vestiges of experience, which are sometimes inaccessible to the reasoning mind. I measure a successful piece by the richness and complexity of the meaning it offers, as a formal endeavor and a symbolic artifact. The problem of cultural origins and where they have brought us, a theme which arises in my work, can only be accessed with candor through the investigation of subjective material. The public statement emerges from the darkest recesses of the private domain; they are intrinsically connected. The titles are a challenge of association. Like the text, they can help to metabolize the feeling of the work, which often comes from a primitive source. An image presents itself like a condition. It is there, it can be studied and labeled, but in the end, perhaps is never fully knowable.