Title: Mother / Father / Son
Medium: Lithography
Size: 15 3/8 x 22 1/2 in. (each)
Edition: Edition of 20
Release: September 2009
Price: $2,250.00 suite of three
ROBYN O’NEIL, Mother, Father and Son (2009), a lithography project consisting of three works printed by Jon Lee at P.R.I.N.T, University of North Texas, Denton in an edition of twenty with five Artist’s Proofs. The suite was published by I.C. Editions, NYC and P.R.I.N.T.
Mother, Father and Son are characters at once wholly dependent upon and independent of the other. Formally, the ellipse of the Father is replicated in the silhouette of the young bird, the Son, and the subtle swell of the waves and brooding sky of the Mother. Father suggests a cloud which has come untethered from its moor above a rough sea or the elongated shadow of an unlucky Robin red breast cast by the harsh glare of a setting sun.
It is interesting to note that the word ellipse and ellipsis are both derived from the same Latin root. Relevant in that ellipsis is a mark made to denote the “omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete.” A similar condition occurs here with these three companions. Though each element carries a meaning independent of as well as a memory of the other, a richer narrative unfolds whose characters are made meaningful and complete when seen as one. They are family.
The portfolio Mother, Father and Son can be found in the collection of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston.