I’ve been working on a new group of pieces that incorporate the layered elements, the subterranean strata, from my Archaeology series. I decided to forego the field of artifacts that mark the Archaeology work, instead focusing on the color and organic lines of the layers and the geometry of the boulders and stones between them. These layers and forms take on an abstract sense that really appeals to me, especially when countered against the representational feel of the surface elements– the Red Tree and the sun/moon.
For me, the resulting image takes on a really contemplative feel. Maybe it’s the idea of seeing a cross-section of the immense changes that time brings, reminding me of our own relative smallness in the larger picture. Any one of those layers, perhaps the thinnest ones, could represent our time on this planet. It takes away a lot of the hubris and bluster of man and reduces it to an organic line.
And in the end, life still goes on in the form of the Red Tree. It may not be the human form that we hope for but it is life, nonetheless.
Life persists.
And even without us, the human race, that in itself is comforting. That is, if you believe that there is a unity and a force that connects us to all living things, great and small. In that sense, we might still be around to look upon that sun/moon many, many millennia from this moment. And I find that sort of comfort, both humbling and reassuring, in this series of layers and color.
Redtree Times 