5/1 wednesday: the past few days my time was taken up with mounting a local exhibition, for which i had very little lead time.
so today was the first day following our recent trip to denver that i could get back to work.
5/3: friday
the green on the left and the orange at the bottom weren't right, so i dove back in. today's state of the process can be seen on the right, below. the piece has flipped 180 degrees.
as in the life cycle of a plant, there is no "right" moment in it's process of development. in painting, i'd say that moment can occur when you can look away then quickly cast your eyes upon it and it clicks; it sings. upon closer inspection, subtleties reveal themselves that enrich the experience from afar. and in the case of this genre: abstract biomorphic collage, the mind/eye may conjure specific natural animal or plant forms, only to have them shift, merge or disappear altogether.
in the best case, it is an image satisfyingly, maddeningly in flux, refusing steadfastly to declare it's identity, giving increasing pleasure and aesthetic fulfillment.
mangaia, by the way, is a tiny pacific island to be found in one of the map cut outs in the upper quadrant of the collage. i liked the name. m-a-n-g-AI-a! the late greek surrealist poet andreas embirikos would have allowed it to emerge with a raw sensuality that might shock the faint of heart.
