The Golden Oasis series points to and celebrates the transcendent value of Life manifest in common natural forms.
Photographic images are shot, close up with aperture wide open, transforming sunlit palm frond fibers into luminous winding channels of pure light energy.
How the images are realized push this luminosity to remarkable new heights. First the canvas is painted with two coats of gold metallic acrylic paint, a ph neutral water based artist paint that shimmers with the reflective properties of shinny gold! Next, two layers of clear ink jet receptive emulsion are applied by brush (adding texture). After drying, the canvas is ready print on using aqueous pigmented ink jet printers (my “small” printer can accommodate 44” wide canvas and the big printer; 64” wide canvas). After printing, several luxurious coats of the finest artist varnish are applied and allowed to cure. The canvas is then stretched (museum wrapped) around custom-made stretcher bars and floater framed using natural wood frames.
When light strikes the artwork it goes through the photograph, hits the gold metallic acrylic underneath and reflects back through the image … illuminating the artwork from within.
The aesthetic effect is incomparably brilliant, the message essential and compelling. True value, represented by the luminous gold tones, lies in the astonishing magic of Life itself, period!
WEEDS series
Brightly illuminated against a dark field, these dry weeds seem so alive … irrepressible, graceful, mischievous, brave, exuberant even. But aren’t they really just old dead weeds?
Such a delightful paradox! Dead, but so full of energy they jump right off the canvas! How they are lit, brightly against a black ground, contributes to this impact, as does the physical structure of the weeds themselves: their line, gesture and composition. So, within the “reality” of the image, objects we “know” to be ordinary, common and lifeless are extraordinary, special, and vivacious!
This invites to question how we distinguish between what is useful, important, note worthy and what is not. Clearly, in order to function and survive in society, it is useful to differentiate between a green and red light at a busy intersection. Likewise, for hygienic purposes, it’s advantageous to distinguish between a healthy, well-adjusted family pet and a dead or rabid one.
The point is, beyond a limited utilitarian perspective, the distinction between what is “living” and “dead,” means little. Such distinctions are practically arbitrary in that any singular “life” is so infinitesimal compared to the eternal flow of Life with a capital “L”.
Surprisingly, I find this idea revivifying: for like these dry weeds I too am part of and participant in the same process – a process much more significant and mysterious than my utilitarian human mind may ever be able to grasp!
