Been focusing so much on working on creating new works on paper and forgot to keep this wonderful page updated. So much has been done since my last post. Here’s a smattering of new works that have been going on for a few years now.
These are from my RIFFIN ON MATISSE series that I have been working on. The title comes from my enjoyment of the hand of Matisse and how he let his colors play on the plane. I used to be bothered by the way he wouldn’t color in all the lines, sometimes there was simply a dab of color in the area that we are led to understand is the entire color for a blouse. It took me a long time to realize that the dabs were a way of letting each color sing on its own, giving space between each color, allows them to be so much more bold in their action. Whereas when you butt colors directly to each other, the eye begins to see them as less vibrant. I had been doing that for years with my work, especially the work on paper. Only to realize later that by allowing the ground color to seep through, I was allowing the color of the art to shine brighter. Definitely a metaphysical experience going on there. One I’m sure Barnett Newman would have had fun with. Enjoy. As you can tell at the bottom of this post there is a much larger version included, I always enjoy making large work, but even in paper the larger work is more difficult to document and store for myself as my palace of art is constantly growing but my present space is consistently growing smaller with each new piece. Such a lovely problem to have.
