 |
| acrylic on a shaped ragboard panel |
I recently started painting on a curved surface that leans
forward. That physically places the sky in front of the foreground. Although
the positioning is the opposite of the dioramas I made for many years, the
sense of space it creates is about the same.
The diorama changed the way I saw painting. Once the element
of space was included, I realized composition no longer mattered. There was no
reason to worry about how things related to the edge of canvas or paper,
because conceptually, I eliminated the picture plane. I was painting space. I
was painting the world around me, and the world already happened to be
composed. This related to that simply by the fact that it was there.
 |
| mixed media diorama |
Although I loved what the diorama did, the problem of shadow
and glass always bothered me. In 2002 I stopped making the diorama. There was a
lot of looking over my shoulder at the past that initially got in the way of
painting. I lacked the confidence I had. Even though painting had always been my
strong point, it was now something I feared. The diorama had become my calling
card and I did not know how to function without it. The problem with
specialization is that you become a craftsman, a person that no longer has
anything new to say, and art thrives in a life of the unknown.
The curved surface I am painting on is not something I
consciously struggled to discover. I simply woke in the middle of the night
with the idea. Although it looks like a straight line from the diorama to the
curved surface, the fact is I never would have thought of it as long as I was
making the diorama. If what you have is seen as a solution, the only thing you
will ever be able to do is refine the problem. It is difficult to think outside
the box without actually leaving it.
No comments:
Post a Comment