ZOOM         Watercolor and pencil on paper.      12"x18"

The Poetics of Proximity series examines interpersonal relationships in confined quarters and explores the boundaries of the individual searching for freedom while functioning consciously or unconsciously in a necessary collective organization or system. This series creates a relational landscape to highlight the importance of both the individual and the group to each other, especially as political systems around the world are being challenged by the pandemic and technology.  At a certain point a grid is populated until it achieves a kind of harmony, or is it just the fertile ground for a revolution? Increased density in the grid means more negotiation, energy and diplomacy is required for each brushstroke that is added. The idea of a potentially flawed underlying structure is an important part of this series, so the grid lines are meant to convey as much character as the brushstrokes.  There is a freedom in the repetition of the grid, but the catch is that we have to maintain our faith in its underlying structure.  In this process I am trying to uncover ancient archetypes surrounding mythology, politics and religion.


Each imperfect line is a repeated attempt at the impossible.  Drawing these lines is like a prayer, each line an incantation. I think of it as a kind of faith. Faith that meaning might be found in the commitment to trying even though it is imperfect. Knowing that the accumulation of trying itself can be beautiful. I think this is at the core of our humanity.


The brushstrokes are super loaded with paint to emphasize that they are sitting on the surface as individual animate objects, each with its own distinct character and direction. I associate the grid with science and reason and use it as a starting point, but then unexpected interrelationships result that propel it forward as it is populated.  There are thousands of combinations of individual units to navigate which at times evoke landscape and figurative ideas. Each strip or square is a life form, functioning within boundaries real or imaginary, however they might be established. The result  might be seen as a cross-section   or core samples, kind of like DNA. Taken together they are a social unit each informing the other with both enough sameness and differentness to keep it interesting, just like life in close proximity.

THE POETICS OF PROXIMITY      ink on paper.  60"x60"

THE POETICS OF PROXIMITY

oil on canvas.

36"x48"

TOLD YOU SO​         Watercolor on paper.          11"x14"

The Poetics of Proximity

GOING PLACES    Watercolor on paper.     12"x18"