laurencunninghamart.com

Hope
2014
Hand-reduction screenprint
20" x 14"

Hope can motivate, comfort, and sustain during trying times. Hope can also be founded on unrealistic expectations, and this "false hope" is often more detrimental than productive. In this print, hope is both a positive and a negative, perceptible and concealed, buoyant and caged. The letters are the white of the paper, silhouetted against a set of concentric circles. Some of the letters are obscured by a white grid, which could be either in front of, behind, or part of the word.

Both the grid and the circles draw attention to the dark circle in the center of the image. Focusing on this circle, an optical illusion occurs in which ghostlike grey dots appear at the four intersections of the grid. The dots are visible only in the viewer's peripheral vision; they disappear when looked at directly. Similarly, not only is hope often strongest during dark times, but it also can be an illusion based on unattainable goals.