The inspiration for my recent works is rooted in consciousness, the mysteries of the universe, and alternative notions of time and space. It is a departure from my earlier works, in which I critiqued modern sociopolitical issues. The impressionable perception of space and time is something that is personally intriguing to me. For a long time I felt it was my duty as an artist to produce works that spoke clearly to the audience, even if they weren’t as appealing to me. I’ve started to break down that wall by delving into a new subject that itself is in conversation with abstraction. I am experimenting with abstraction techniques such as lineation, overlap, fragmentation, and masking to analyze and portray my vision of the universe. These techniques allow me to disassociate myself from the cognitive push towards realism, while creating a work that is alive, fresh, and totally raw.
Chakra was my first legitimate foray into abstraction. I painted it at a time that I was exploring my spirituality in new ways. The concept for the work was to attempt a representation of a chakra, or electromagnetic source of energy in the body. It was important for me to step out of my mind, so as to not indirectly influence the painting with any outside imagery. To do this, I switched to my non-dominant hand for the entirety of the painting. I found this practice incredibly challenging, but helpful. Because I had no preconceived expectations for the image, I was able to enter a meditative state that I believe was highly influenced by the lack of intelligence from my dominant hand. Every mark I made on the canvas was utterly genuine and only occurred in response to preexisting marks. This was a very disorienting process that I soon learned to appreciate. I was surprised to see the inspiration that I received simply by using the dormant side of my brain. I do plan on utilizing this method again in the future to grow as an artist.
Continuum is a painting that is currently in progress. It is a study of the relationship between the multiverse theory and circular time. I wanted to reach a critical synthesis of these two ideas as reflections of each other. To represent such a complex idea, I utilized a pattern that has appeared in my works through the years: lines. However, in this work I created organic, responsive lines as opposed to the rigid lines of my previous works. To represent the layers of the universe I created a motif of lines that I vary in color for distinction. The notion of circular time comes into play when the motifs interact and connect to each other through space. This pattern also works as a metaphor for the interconnectivity of the past, present, and future. There are components of the painting that stand out, while others play a silent, passive role meant to give the audience context without defining the piece. The repetitive process of mark making in this work has created a similar meditative experience for me as with Chakra. I will continue to study lineation as a method of responsive, versus premeditated mark-making as a tool to analyze these subjects in my future works.