NO. 4MIX SERIES

60.75” x 41.75” x 2.75”
mixed paint media on canvas

The paintings of MIX SERIES were made off-and-on over a 5 1/2 year period beginning in June of 2000. The overarching aim of the work was to express the soul as purely as possible: (1) with intuitive non-objective imagery (2) with large gestural movements, (3) with experimental combinations of paint media.

COMPOSITION
This series for depicting the soul was made with an effort to get beyond conscious intent, as the compositions were forced to yield to instinctual, gestural, and chemical reactions.

GESTURE
The work was to express more of the soul by being done using more of the body. Rather than subjecting the paintings to the fine skills of knuckles and fingers, the action of applying the paint was dynamic and gestural, directly involving large movements of the elbow and shoulder and sometimes the entire body.

CHANCE
Indicative of the soul’s relationship with chance, the paint materials were chosen by their visually overt chemical reaction to one another. Most of the paint was applied to the work lying flat, increasing the time that each paint material was exposed to the others. Now and then, a painting would be variably tilted, allowing gravity to visibly affect the mixture of the paint.

NO. 4
The fourth work of MIX SERIES varies from the others in its increased paint volume and a less active process. The making of this piece involved more watching and waiting than the others: watching for the separate paint materials to dry to certain viscosities and waiting for the materials to relate to each other so the painting could arrive.