Mark Phelan

I like to throw things out.  But, as I do, and as I look at the things I often see that the item doesn't want to be discarded.  It has a role yet. Sometimes I feel it waits for an important role.

My highest contentment is to place items with others and have them create a special space…a space which is just right.

The collection at the Tappan Z Gallery is an application of this need in the context of American Flags.

Interpretations suggest that the flags are emotional wormholes to my Vietnam war experience; perhaps.  Certainly they associate with my career - designing and constructing space (homes).  They are also the harvest of my living on a 200 year old farm.