Now

A mixed-media series.
Webpage under construction.

What is the experience of being present? I wrestled with this question alongside a young toddler, the exemplar of curiosity, close looking, and presentness, who consistently exercised my patience. It takes patience to be present.  

I explored this question in the studio with a brush hovering full of wet black ink above a blank sheet of paper. There are materials and media that don’t so much invite as require presentness. Similarly, there are approaches that require it: drawing a long, smooth line that doesn’t break or turn awkwardly or chatter. There is music for presentness: chanting. There are shapes for presentness: the infinity loop. And there are of course words for it, like “now.”

My exploration of the ways to represent “now” have evolved into strands of related projects.

One exploration is an audio work. One voice speaks phrases that describe moments of being present, like “try to be as quiet as possible.” Another overlapping voice of a child tells a slow and meandering story. I hope that together they might speak to the joys and frustrations of being present.

Another exploration takes its inspiration from Joseph Kosuth’s One and Three Chairs, a work comprised of a physical chair, a photograph of that chair, and a print of the dictionary definition of “chair.” I use the same format, representing an idea in three distinct ways, but my subject is “now”: text of the word “now,” a line drawing (requiring concentration), and a gesture painting (requiring bold impulse).

Another exploration has a defined set of parameters: paper size (roughly the dimensions of a scroll) and pattern (a repeating loop). I fill the defined page with the defined pattern. And then I do it again. I repeat this again and again, using a variety of media so the resulting drawings are simultaneously identical and completely different, like the sun rising and setting on two different days. Some drawings may be ugly. Some beautiful, boring, or even gruesome. The point is to create an experience of daily life lived with honesty, acceptance, and ultimately grace.

These are various inquiries into presentness as a concept and a lived experience that can bring joy and require endurance.

–2018