2. Termite Drawings
Zoser (red), 2019Enamel paint on carved plywood, aluminum frame.
99 x 81.25 cm
39 x 32 in
Zoser (orange), 2019Enamel paint on carved plywood, aluminum frame.
99 x 81.25 cm
39 x 32 in
In Herman’s plywood paintings, laborious etching processes unearth intricate patterns: vivid, maze-like tunnels echoing the subterranean folds of termite colonies. Artist John Emison situates the series in relation to Frank Stella’s “Black Paintings,” noting that “the panels waver between sculptural relief and painting as they shrug off subjective composition-making and emphasize their own tautological self-formation.” Herman’s excavation of the rhizomatic patterns of his plywood canvases references his foundations in woodblock printmaking. Evident in one of the mantras accompanying the paintings, “Everything we will ever need is right here,” is an underlying ethos of revelation—not as an act of individual discovery, but an embodied belief in the abundance of what already exists, opensource.
Constant reaching for the unspeakable, 2018Enamel paint on carved plywood, aluminum frame.
124.5 x 195.6 cm
49 x 77 in
Understand something which you cannot say, 2018Enamel paint on carved plywood, aluminum frame.
124.5 x 195.6 cm
49 x 77 in
Actualizing what can be, 2018Enamel paint on carved plywood, aluminum frame.
124.5 x 195.6 cm
49 x 77 in
Installation at Ibid, Los Angeles. 2018