a new international juried exhibition of new media by artists with disabilities
John Cadigan
Palo Alto, California
"My woodcuts invite audiences to ponder the mysteries of life through black and white imagery derived from objects I find and life experiences."
John Cadigan, who has schizoaffective disorder, asserts that his disability is profoundly intertwined with his creativity. His woodcuts often convey images that are direct representations; others are abstract reflections on elements of everyday life. Within the Monster Room triptych, Cadigan deconstructs the concept of a theatrical stage as a space in which one encounters creative abstractions of the lived experience. Frozen within each panel of these "stages of life" are culturally allusive images that help shape a larger context for the work.
The first panel juxtaposes a monster with a stylized Saint Nicholas icon and a Saint Bernadette statue that holds the healing waters of Lourdes. In the second panel, Cadigan quotes Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya with a reimagining of one of Goya's deathbed Black Paintings, framed by a two-faced monster. The final panel depicts a third, nightmarish monster sharing a "stage" with a saintly image bearing a sword and a palm frond, the iconographic symbol of martyrdom.
The three panels mirror the three acts of a stage tragedy. In the first panel, or opening act, innocence and hope are attacked. In the middle panel, or second act, there is a battle of life and death of the soul. The third panel, or final act, depicts a suspicious and wary acceptance of evil.
Since 1994 Cadigan's woodcuts have been exhibited nationally in museums and galleries, including the San Jose Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and Stanford University Art Spaces. In 2005 his first commissioned piece was installed in the healing chapel of an Episcopal church in San Carlos, California. Cadigan trained at Carnegie Mellon University School of Art and studied in Rome for a year with the Tyler School of Art. With the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, Cadigan also photographed and directed the award-winning HBO/Cinemax documentary People Say I'm Crazy.
© 2005 John Cadigan