It It Be Your Will

Part of a series and conceptual project, in each of the ship paintings and drawings I attempt to embody the psyche of the lover and imagine making the drawing or painting for the object of my desire. Each mark underscores the fervor of the written sentiment.

My feelings as the lover are projected – literally – onto each of the vessels: I inscribe the ship’s bow with my words. Each declaration is directed to my beloved; thus each of the paintings and drawings in this series function as metaphorical love letters. They carry within them the conviction that love, “this thing conceived, asserted, lived according to eternity (Roland Barthes),” will continue without end.

In If It Be Your Will, the ship is inscribed with the title of the Leonard Cohen song. Cohen describes his song as a prayer, and I intend for this meaning to carry through in the piece. In this instance, the “you” referred to in the piece is not the beloved, but a higher power which has the ability to “end this night, if it be your will.”