Monday, December 19, 2011

Electric Pop-Art?

When I started this project I was working with classical oriental designs, essentially natural landscapes which used high water/pigment ratio media to convey form and depth. The recurrence of tree structures, fractal in nature, was easily communicable in the Lichtenberg figure forms of the electrical burn patterns. However, through practice I found that this was a limited perception of what was taking place in each work; these dendrite patterns had much more semiotic significance. The result was a shift into various attempts at abstraction: a street art understanding-- from my relevant personal history, geometric abstraction,  a post-modern inversion of geometric abstraction, then other experimentation which seems to me now as connected with cubism.

In an attempt at consolidating the depth of my abstract works with the free-association of the pop-art, I arrived back at the tree form.


"Tree 1": 24" x 18" x 1"
Gouache, acrylic, ink, and high voltage electricity on
 recycled cardboard (corrugated fiberboard)

In this work, the depth of multiple cardboard layers -- 
revealed through the burning process-- is offset by
the stark color contrast between the white acrylic gesso
and the burn corrugated medium. The result is a
deception, exemplified in the moment that the center
knot appears to be in front of the surrounding bark. 

"Tree 2": 18" x 24" x 1"
Gouache, acrylic, ink, and high voltage electricity on
 recycled cardboard (corrugated fiberboard)


In this work, the use of stark color contrast in the previous
work was exaggerated to create depth in a two-dimensional 
space. This is complimented by the drip patterns, outlined
in a reflective gold paint. The bottom layer (reminiscent of
lichen on the barks surface) is a similar depth deception as
the first painting, but it uses color contrast and paint texture. 

"Tree 3": 24" x 18" x 1"
Gouache, acrylic, ink, and high voltage electricity on
 recycled cardboard (corrugated fiberboard)


This third piece begun with a high water-content drip
pattern, employing the purple-yellow contrast. But
after the electrocution process the resulting burn pattern 
was obscured by the stark color contrast. I experimented
with high-contrast, colored, geometric forms to draw the 
eye from the background to the foreground. The off-
center circle in the center brings the viewer to the
marbleized, purple/alizarin crimson.  

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