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THREE STORIES ABOUT WATER
The images are loose visualizations of the way I imagine subterranean water, of the smells and sounds of water flowing in ancient, undisturbed reservoirs. I had in mind Chinese ink wash paintings when I began, in part because the subject is water, but also because a traditional landscape done in ink wash does not simply reproduce the appearance of the subject but in some way captures the unseen. The traditional associations of dark and light are reversed here in that darkness protects us from an aggressive searing sun.
The meaning is largely conveyed by the materials and ways of working. The difficult panels about scarcity and drought, the Dry Earth drawings, are made with intractable and scumbly dry wax. On the other hand, these personal visualizations about pure water are made with fluid water based paints and ink and the process was nurturing for me, and, I hope, rich with associations.
These water paintings are intended to hang in a space which is dark except for the spots illuminating the work.