Inexorable Growth
Encaustic Paintings and Sculpture
Bursting Forthink on encaustic, 8 x 10" | Aurora (mobile installation)Encaustic on Lutradur (40 x 40 x 40 inches) | Aurora (detail)Encaustic on Lutradur (40 x 40 x 40 inches) |
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Aflameink on encaustic, 16x12" | Whorled8 x 10 ink on encaustic | Internal Takeover10 x 8 ink on encaustic |
Adriftink on encaustic, 16x12" | Briny Hyacinthink on encaustic, 16x12" | AsunderInk on encaustic, 8 x 10" |
Artist Statement
The paintings in this series, Inexorable Growth, find their genesis in microscopic molecules found in plant, human and celestial life. As biomorphic forms, these paintings emerge, literally 2- and 3-dimensionally, from the painted and sculptured surface, thanks to the scientific interactions between fluid ink, encaustic wax, gravity, heat and moisture. As a partner in their creation, I respond to the emerging surface, distorting and enhancing the forms with gestural pen and ink lines, building up texture and colour, and witnessing their transfiguration.
The layering of my own unconscious emotions, experiences and interpretations onto these biomorphic forms results in illustrations that appear both recognizable as familiar natural phenomenon, yet are also unsettlingly mutational in design; micro- and macroscopic metaphors for the dynamic and inexorable character of growth, disease, evolution and decay,
Both in their creation and design, these surreal abstract paintings are a crossover of science and art – meditations and reflections on nature, life, humanity, environmental change, and genetic modification.
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Aurora (Sculpture)
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Aurora represents the Aurora borealis - a dazzling dance of light that appears, then disappears – in the sky. This magical light dance symbolizes a connection between the physical and spiritual realms; For some, it epitomizes a bridge between heaven and earth.
Aurora is a mobile strung with colourful tendrils that spin and move in the air. The strings of light cast stark shadows on the surrounding wall. When gallery lit, the mobile becomes a three- dimensional shadowed art sculpture; when lit by the viewer's cell phone flashlight, the tendrils cast moving shadows upon the wall.