Friday, June 30, 2006

Box Set Coming Soon

I've just about finished the three paintings on box canvases: 12" x 24" x 3". The concept was for the show "Continuum" hosted by Adrian Martinez in Wailuku, Maui. I did the piece "Reaching" by starting out with circles. What could be more continuous than circles?

I experimented with wiping away parts of circles to play with the depth of the layers. Arcs and circles intersect but it is unclear which is dominant. I chose the depth of the canvas-- 3 inches is called "museum quality"-- because the show had a limitation of 20" by 20" and I wanted my piece to stand out. The rules only mentioned width and height.

The figure climbing onto the painting takes advantage of the depth of the canvas. His figure extends on the left side and the bottom side of the painting. Much of my artwork is interested in boxes. Figures will find themselves in boxes-- comfort zones of identity. In this case, the canvas is the box. Here the figure jumps in, more interested apparently in this world than his own.

The other two canvases that complete the "Box Set" are on the same size canvases and continue the theme of how abstraction relates to the figure.

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