This summer has been a magnificent mix of refinishing furniture, tending my vegetable garden and creating this odd group of cut paper works. I have a few others pieces that are not quite finished yet…but I was feeling too excited to hold these back any longer. I’m submitting this group of work to a show at the Arc Gallery in San Francisco next month which is centered on the theme of “Structure.” When I first saw the call for entries, I thought it was definitely not for me, but I decided to challenged myself and really think about my methods for building an abstract composition. All these pieces start with me spending a few days painting paper with patterns, textures and color fields, and then pinning it on the wall in different configurations in order to discover my desired palette. I’m really fascinated by how some of the finished pieces have an emblematic quality and are much more sharp-edged than my acrylic painting style. I keep coming back to this way of working because it is so freeing to be experimental and explore my inner-world with more intention.
I haven’t quite figured out how to describe these pieces to fit the theme “Structure,” but I have the next few weeks to sit with these and really figure out what they’re about. Right now, all I can say is that they feel weird, and they deserved equally weird titles…but at the same time they are a blazing proclamation of my inner-workings. I’ll be adding more to this series in the coming two weeks, so stay tuned!
