Caged Spirit

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on March 27, 2022 at 4:29pm

Curator’s Comments:

 

Caged Sprit was posted quite a while back, but was recently featured on the site in a random selection. The subtleties of the watercolor can’t be fully appreciated in a thumbnail, so I’m glad I had the opportunity to view it larger. (I’m always of the opinion that viewing the actual object is optimal.)  The layering of the organic leaf-like shapes over the gridded background sets up a certain amount of visual tension, but the contrast between the hazy boundaries and hard edges are softened by the tinted color palette. This compositional synchronization is also amplified by the shared blue hues in both types of shapes. The title of the painting suggests the caging of a sentient entity, which enhances my read of the piece.  Looking back through your other images on the site, I remembered admiring the oil paintings that had a more compartmentalized partitioning of the landscape with geometric designs. In general, many of those pieces achieved a dramatic congruence of forms with the illusion of atmospheric space.  Both approaches demonstrate an amazing dexterity in handling the semi-transparent and opacity of the media.  I do hope you continue to check back in on the site, and you will post what you’re working on now.