Pas de Deux- The Collector Plate Series: Pas de Deux, or the dance for two, uses formal poses from Greco Roman wrestling, ju jitsu, classical ballet and mythology as metaphors for personal and social relationships. The intertwined bodies suggest dependence but also the conflict of passion, fear and domination, appropriate for our age of discontent. The Collector Plate Series takes these serious issues and reduces them to manageable emotions that can be displayed or stored away at the discretion of the possessor. Introduced in 1895, souvenir collector plates became the standard in accessible art and bestowed upon the owner the faux aura of refinement and connoisseurship. The illustrated plate simultaneously references Greek vases and plates whose utilitarian functions were enhanced by illustrations from mythology and daily life.These implications are mere subtexts to the obvious melding of ambiguous, sensual, dark imagery onto the kitschy, gold edge collector plate, intended to amuse but also seriously consider our co-dependence.Thomas McGovern