Lost Lens, 52” x 60”, acrylic on canvas, 2020
In painting plankton and stars, they become yours, each other, and hopefully something else. I think of this painting as a place to get lost through the lens of imagined nature. However, I zoom back and forth to depict a balance between things that exist and things that are imagined. The piece incorporates some real Amazonian flora and fauna. The rate that that flora and fauna in our ecosystem is being destroyed through climate change is absolutely devastating. By bringing attention to the amazing amount diversity in our environment, I hope that the painting encourages us to conserve our world. Consider all the things we have yet to discover. Color is bright, vivid, and amplified. In the rainforest, colors are so bright they look painted- it’s fantastical. It is this energy that I try to capture in the painting. On another layer, the composition looks through a telescopic lens, or is it a microscopic lens? I developed this painting for 6 months and finished just before the quarantine started. It was a quick painting relatively speaking as I often work on paintings this size for 1-2 years. The energy and excitement of the painting process was all encompassing. I often get stuck and move to another work but every once an awhile a painting flows and I just ride the wave. The work offers a glimpse of beauty, a shimmer of hope, and a space for comfort. I think art can provide a space for healing and highlight our connection to the world. A lens like tool can offer greater clarity on a subject because it allows you to see beyond the capacity of human eyesight. The painting magnifies scale to create an impossible situation. A burst of optimism is what I want to put out into the world with my paintings. The focus is on what’s outside of the lens and the space inside zooms outward to the cosmos. A densely populated canopy of beauty surrounds the cosmic circle. A great pause has forced us all to experience life more slowly during the quarantine. All of our routines have changed even for me even though I am still working from home. There is a slowness and greater appreciation for seeing flora on walks in my own neighborhood. There are many lenses to view the world that are personal and collective. I like to experience that and dream of new surprises around every corner. These are nutrients that feed the soul.