I first met El in the summer of 1973. I was young and alone and lonely. She was a free spirit with the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. I think those eyes knew all there was to know about me in the first five minutes of our conversation. Nearly four decades later I think she remains as much an enigma to me now as then.
In the way of the seventies we first were lovers and later friends and companions. While being extremely warm and caring she is foremost a very private person. A decade would pass before she would share her artistic side with me. She was first to explain that artwork is the most valuable commodity man ever creates because each piece holds a bit of the artist's soul. Willingly parting with a piece of your soul is a concept not taken lightly. Separating from created art is like separating from a child.
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It is difficult for me to describe the first time I saw her work. The pieces were singularly beautiful in my opinion but there was something else more compelling about them that I could not quite grasp at the time. The closest I could come to identifying the sensation was a feeling of falling into them, or perhaps, more truly, being pulled into them. The velvety colors and hues were soft and sensual and the longer I looked the greater grew my sense of peace and serenity.
"How do you do this?" I asked and "What do they mean?"
"They mean everything." she replied. "They show who I am. How I feel."
When I asked if any of them were self portraits she answered 'They all are".
The closest I could tell is they represent a physical expression of her emotional complexity. She weaves this emotional tapestry of herself and there is simply no 'why' to it. When you look at them you either know this or you do not. You either 'get it' or you don't. There is no in between.
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El would never allow me to show her work to others. It took years for me to convince her that others might enjoy and understand them. Recently she relented. I don't know why, maybe I wore her down, but she allowed me to make this website. But there were to be rules.
She would create what she wanted, when she wanted. She would not be pressured to produce nor be subject to 'suggestions'. There would be no commissioned pieces. No parade before the public. No interviews, no pictures, no meetings or business concerns. There would be no mass production of thousands. Only a finite number of reproductions would be allowed and that number would be 'seven'. Seven people in each state sharing her work would be enough. "An intimate but diverse group," she said. A maximum of 350 persons from around the globe to perhaps know her.
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So there it is. Seven. That is her rule. She creates her work as it comes to her. I will make it available on this website as long as she lets me.
Enjoy
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