A Thing in Itself
       
     
Another Thing in Itself
       
     
Circus Act
       
     
Homage to Hanta
       
     
Abacus
       
     
A Thing in Itself
       
     
A Thing in Itself

acrylic, gesso, flashe
on 400 gsm fine art paper
24 x 18 in.
SOLD

The way these shapes “hang” off the side remind me of decorative tassels or sort of accoutrements attached to a costume. They would be dangling and possibly clanking with sound. I like that the repeating shapes make up an object with a rhythm of its own and an ambiguous purpose. It simply is a thing in itself. This idea is also alluding to writings by John Steinbeck in which he emphasizes non-teleological thinking is that “which concerns itself primarily not with what should be, or could be, or might be, but rather with what actually is.” (From Log from the Sea of Cortez)

Another Thing in Itself
       
     
Another Thing in Itself

acrylic, gesso, flashe
on 400 gsm fine art paper
24 x 18 in.
SOLD

A piece relating to “A Thing in Itself” this painting resembles a seashell and is soft with pastel colors and many curves. Its coming into being is probably influenced by the reading of Steinbeck’s Log from the Sea of Cortez.

Circus Act
       
     
Circus Act

acrylic, gesso, flashe
on 400 gsm fine art paper
24 x 18 in.
SOLD

This playful arrangement and loose composition feels almost like a unicycle or a funny cart that could be in a circus. It’s a bit out of control and happy. There are hints of bubbles or balls being juggled.

Homage to Hanta
       
     
Homage to Hanta

acrylic, gesso, flashe
on 400 gsm fine art paper
24 x 18 in.
SOLD

This work is titled as a tribute to the character, Hanta, in the book, Too Loud a Solitude, by the late Czech author, Bohumil Hrabel. It is the story of a man, Hanta, who works as a paper crusher in Prague during an era of censorship. He culls rare and banned books into consciously curated compressed bales. So much of the writing is a love poem to books.

To me, there are shapes in this painting that look like side views of books, the torn and water logged pages, stacked, arranged and pressed together with force applied by mechanical elements.

Abacus
       
     
Abacus

acrylic, gesso, flashe
on 400 gsm fine art paper
24 x 18 in.

A strange arrangement of soft shapes punctuated by a sharp triangular pattern. Yellow in a light pastel and rich ochre sits with neutrals that include chocolate, sand, burnt sienna, taupe, black and white. The black “beads” at the bottom of the picture seem as if they could slide and allude to the action of an abacus, as well as ideas about calculation and tracking.