Black Heart Mitosis Series No.5

"Hung from the wall at eye level but seeming to hover in front of it without support, Black Heart is a mixed-medium relief that looks like a darkly poetic, oversized version of the real thing. The 1996-97 work is 3 feet high and half a foot deep. The shape is wonderful: an ovoid that very gently tapers at the bottom end. The black surface, scored and pitted and scarred, can be likened to a piece of damanged skin over a smooth layer of muscle. The form sustains a mythic presence, symbolic of the organ we consider the origin of emotion. Like all of Unger's pieces, Black Heart originates in human biology, but its true meaning is rooted in its ability to suggest life proccesses that are as metaphysical as they are scientific." –Jonathan Goodman, Art in America, 1997