ABRACADABRA
The word "ABRACADABRA" was first used by Quintus Serenus Sammonicus about the year 200 AD as a talisman to combat malaria. Wearing an amulet with this magical word written in a triangle was thought to reduce the disease in the same way that the letters decreased with each line.
I discovered it in Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year, where it was similarly used to combat the plague in mid 17th century London.
I resurrected the symbol years ago as a secondary element, but recently decided to re-contextualize ABRACADABRA as the subject of these paintings.
I discovered it in Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year, where it was similarly used to combat the plague in mid 17th century London.
I resurrected the symbol years ago as a secondary element, but recently decided to re-contextualize ABRACADABRA as the subject of these paintings.
Click on any thumbnail to scroll through images with dates and sizes. All 16x14 pictures are framed behind glass in cherry colored wood. Prices are available upon request.