COLLECTIVE ART TANK 2018
For a handful of years, David D. Oquendo has developed a personal constructed script. He calls this writing system, “Metaphrase”. This “Metaphrase” is a series that includes large-scale wall renderings (indoor and outdoor) and mixed media paintings. The artwork explores the artist’s ideas and questions of identity, language, meditation, religion and life.
The genesis of the series is personal. The artist was diagnosed with a learning disability as a child; causing difficulty in speech, comprehension, translation and writing. The non sequitur has become increasingly fascinating for the artist in regards to idiomatic phrases, music and identity through language.
Each letter is a system that has been influenced by Textualis Quadrata with hints of Arabic and Hebrew calligraphy. Completion finds the balance between obfuscate text and the beauty of calligraphy. With this series, Oquendo challenges the notion of what language must be, how language must be used and how language must look like.
The show is titled “No Quarter”, which is influenced by a song by the same name. The work at The Collective Art Tank focuses on the ideas of; mercy prior to death, passing away before one’s appropriate time, not being prepared to die, and when one finds themselves at the River Styx with no coin – what does one do then?
