Cheryl Safren is a New York-based visual artist. Her practice — spanning painting, sculpture, public art, and experimental processes — has been collected by universities, research institutions, and municipalities across the United States, Asia, and beyond.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Symbols in Early Languages
Symbols, as a form of communication, have been scratched onto rocks by cavemen and used by physicists employing powerful computers to explain string theory. Some symbols may only be understood in a certain place or time in history or by those educated in a certain field of endeavor. This exhibit explores visual symbols functioning as letters in alphabets to facilitate written language. From the originators of petroglyphs to the symbology of the alchemists, humans found a way to communicate by making simple marks and assigning meaning to those marks. Each art panel in this exhibition is a composite of alphabets from a specific time and place such as the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Lanna Kingdom, Indus Valley, etc.