I try to have a few pieces in every show that are a bit out of my normal range, pieces that still carry the same momentum as the other work in the show but have a different look from my typical work. This is one such piece from my next show, Now and Then, which opens at the Principle Gallery on June 10th. This is an 11″ by 11″ painting on paper and is limited in its color with shades of brown and gray and bits of more vibrant colors.
I do these interior scenes once in a great while, usually employing a window or door as part of the composition. I enjoy the contrast between the sharp angular geometry of the interior space and the more rolling curves and arcs of the outer landscape. The window also provides a contrast in darkness and light for this piece, the darker tones of the interior making the lighter exterior scene pop in this composition.
Like my landscapes, I still try to keep details to a minimum. The interior scene provides more opportunities to embellish, to add more points of interest such as the few things on the table, but I want the larger forms to be the expression in this piece. I want the piece to still read easily from a distance. This is similar to the way I felt about my earlier Archaeology series. There was an area of great detail but I wanted that to be secondary to the whole scene, preferring that the viewer be drawn to the overall feel of the piece first then noticing the detail after. Also like some of the Archaeology pieces, I’ve added bit of self reference here in the form of the painting on the wal, a small red tree.
I always like these pieces if only for the difference they display from my other work and the fact that they feel more personal to me, as though the outer scene here is the one I regularly share with the larger world and the interior scene is the part that I don’t show, that part of the self I keep in reserve, hidden from the outer world. Maybe that is the meaning here. As for any other message, I don’t know what they say to others. don’t know if that really matters in the case of these pieces. Perhaps they are simply what they are, shades of brown and gray and bits of color…
Redtree Times 