In this series, paint makes an at times disconcerting voyage between sculpture and canvas. In a strange liminal area between the second and third dimension, viewers are invited to alternately consider these pieces as physical objects and as depthless pieces. In this shifting understanding lies deeper questions about the contradictions between surface appearances and what lies beneath. What happens when we accept the paint not as a tool to illustrate something larger, but a statement in and of itself? Not the journey, but the destination?
The artist luxuriates in such juxtapositions in this series. Each piece remains, unmistakably, painterly, anchored around the textured colors layered on a traditional rectangular canvas. But each protruding fold and tear carries an aggressive physicality. At times, the paint is reminiscent of skin. But where is the body? The fragmented surface, transcending the canvas boundary to creating shifting shadows around it, can feel surprisingly bereft, nostalgic.
Each piece here interrogates the deconstruction of both material and expectation. In the end, they create a forceful sensuality from a process generally seen to reduce, not create. When you break something down, the shards left behind can be greater than the sum of its parts.
