Mi Sol Fa

Daniel Massad’s work brims with layers of mythological, literary and personal references. Painstakingly rendered in pastel and viewed as if through a door, Massad’s weathered walls contain niches filled with objects that are both symbolic and mysterious. The title Mi Sol Fa is a play on words from the diatonic musical scale, meant to be read as "Me So Far." Essentially a self-portrait, the image is created by the artist out of specific aspects of his life and career. Included are elements—the tall mason jar, a shell casing, flower, and an apple—borrowed from earlier works and set into a stone wall made of the partial outlines of states in which Massad lived: Oklahoma, New Jersey, Illinois, Kansas and Pennsylvania. Etched into the wall are initials of people that the artist loved and lost through the years.