I remember losing track of time as I looked across the cracking surface. The cracks were showing the layers underneath of what had come before. I hadn’t even seen one of my paintings that intensely yet. I walked up and stuck my nose into each brush stroke then stumbled back to look at the painting as a whole. I spent time looking at the calming ochre background with white stripes cutting vertically through the composition. I saw the stripes and their relationship to the gray bow like shape. The gray moved into the picture from behind the first stripe then in front of the next stripe. Looking through the gray arching bow there is a leaning black shape that is a spectator viewing everything from behind the scenes. I have gotten lost in Robert Motherwell’s “Wall Painting with Stripes” many times. Every time I think about how good it is to be with a painting for a period of time, looking back at its history, seeing how it looks different as I grow older, and each time searching for something I haven’t seen before.
I have always enjoyed the act of searching. I first realized the enjoyment while searching for comic books long before looking at paintings. The act of going through comics that are stacked into boxes would lead to the discovery of the perfect piece to add to my collection. My fingers and eyes would swiftly work through every box so as not to miss a hidden gem that I wasn’t even looking for. When I found something, I would examine every detail. These searches soon continued with music, books and all things of interest. I was always searching for that next part of my collection. Whenever I would stumble onto something new it would take over until it was all I collected. These in turn became different searches, each with a new discovery, which would lead to new searches.
This practice finds its way into my painting and drawing still today. While painting and drawing I’m often searching for new interests that lead me in different directions. After I find something of interest, I examine it in a serial manner. Whether it is working in black and white or working with different motifs, I often find ideas while searching for something else. I look intensely at shapes I’m collecting, stacking them closely from front to back. The shapes fight for position in front, trying not to be the ground. I have recently found myself looking at the most basic of shapes like the circle, square and triangle. I connect the shapes with lines and rectangles moving through the painting. The squares are cut into L’s that are reassembled, like pieces from Tetris. These shapes can change color, direction, opacity and size as they are put into place. My collections of shapes and interests will continue to change as I search for the next hidden gem.