Parcels
2022
Mixed Media Collage
80" x 24"
Most of the materials in this series were produced in 2016-17. I envisioned long panels in stoic, monolithic compositions. With confidence, I experimented with many combinations of black media on various materials. Paint, leather dye, and ink on different papers. Dry pigments including graphite, charcoal, and Mars black were mixed with shellac or acrylic medium.
When I exhausted my supplies I was disappointed with the results. As an artist, I am used to failures. Investing in what ends up being dead ends happens frequently. I stashed it all away and moved on to something else.
In 2022 I was stumped with what to work on. In a crowded, messy studio I only had to dig for a new starting point. I stumbled on the long black panels. Suddenly I saw them for what they were, not what I wanted them to be. My old expectations forgotten, I was free to react. Instantly I knew they needed to be cut into strips. The long ribbons became a vocabulary that flowed instinctually. Within days I had exhausted the materials and produced eleven of my finest works.
The series title pays homage to discovering a parcel from the past delivered at the right time.
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