I’ve been frantically working away on these paintings, and it has been going well, but at times is a bit difficult to think about how many more I have to get done! My focus at the moment has been on the process, which has been significant. Throwing myself physically into creative production really becomes a way of processing my life, it seems… which isn’t always easy.
I was taking a walk one other morning a few days ago and was thinking about the possibility of including drawings in my pile, and I do still have these odd and somewhat grotesque myths in the back of my mind and how they might come into the work…. Beheadings abound here–in these myths, in the realities of historical sacrifices, and in the imagery of colonial paintings.
Once this group of paintings is shipped out way too soon, I am thinking to produce drawings of heads—those that are real, or unreal, all from my personal experiences. I believe that this will add some additional texture and color to this ruin that is beginning to form. We’ll see as it builds.
I tried out the stacking of the paintings with about 50 pieces that were completed in my studio today, and added some papers as well, just to see.
The funniest thing is that later when I made it back to my apartment, there happened to be this fantastic stack of cement pieces that looked so much like my stack of paintings. I had gone to the grocery store, and when I saw that, I took it as something of a sign and set down the grocery bags and water in my hands, making a bit of a spectacle of myself and took a picture. So perhaps the work is coming along well….