what happens when we tune into the underlying currents?
the drumbeats of the forest, gravity of the rushing river, the electric pulse of a heart.
listen in, it’s speaking, calling, whispering a love message of the cosmos.
I began these paintings at the end of Nov 2018 and am just finishing them up here in Sept of 2019.
Those who know my painting style know I work quickly and spontaneously. I view my creative process as something that is outside of me, my body is just a vessel to pass through energy from somewhere else in my being, or perhaps somewhere outside of it, into an expression of color and movement. How do we end up in the places we do?
With this being said, the following series of paintings takes a slightly different approach. While I only work on each piece for a short period of time (either collectively by pouring paint across canvases or individually with finer brush work), the overall collective duration of time has been much longer. large periods of time –– weeks, months –– often pass before I revisit.
This wasn’t intentional but it is how it happened. At first I held it against myself that I would let them sit, but with reflection, I realize that it gave time for the paint, the movement of mark, to metaphorically sink into the canvas, to rest, to regain. I could create more complex layers of color and space because they had time to either sink back or pull forward, subconsciously in my mind. Each new time I came to these canvases, my color palette would change, sometimes drastically. Even my methods changed over time, I started off with charcoal, then pouring extremely watered down paint with all the canvases pushed together, rearranging the canvases, pouring paint, using a brush, pouring thicker paint, etc. until in the end where I only used a brush.
I found myself at times really turned off by these and other times excited. Some took longer then others. The ones I felt the most confused by now make the most sense. These paintings are a reflection of the constant pursuit of reaching stasis –– on a bodily, societally, planetary level –– balance requires movement; equilibrium is fleeting.
The following gallery is a collection of work in progress/work in process, not all sessions were captured. A sped up videos follow, edited by Rebecca Dearden (https://www.rebeccadeardenphoto.com/). Featuring sweet Esmerelda.
