Quantum 1

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on January 8, 2013 at 9:30am

I'm so pleased you liked my comment, and interpretation of the piece.  I think few of us have real objectivity with what we make, but of course there  is always the chance our intent will miss it's mark.  I hadn't thought about it before, but it may be a good idea for someone else to write our "artists statements"!

Comment by Michael Caci on January 5, 2013 at 1:05am

Thank you Kristen for your kind and insightful comments so beautifully written. I should have been in contact with you last year when I was pulling my hair out trying to write an artist's statement!

Comment by Resident Curator on January 4, 2013 at 5:50pm

Curator’s Comment:  

 

I see these pieces as lush paintings that speak to macabre beauty through transformation and renewal.  The birds’ splayed out wings span out into radiating fans of alternating luminous and dark energy.  The fragile physicality of their fragmented bodies further draws attention to the relationship between belief/spirit and corporeal form.  I wonder if there’s intentional reference to Christianity in the implied cruciform arrangements of the birds themselves and the cross-like blocks of color, as in Quantum 2.  The small floating orb of the earth in the center of the cross functions as the animal’s eye, or head, and also as a spiritual axis. Or, perhaps, there’s the implication that we are at the center /top of this open, sacrificial offering. Visually, I enjoy the splattery gestural marks in the piece that form around the more realistically rendered feathers. The dark blocks also provide formal rest, and less active contemplative space. The first piece, Quantum I, seems to have fewer symbolic or pictorial elements, but the green jewel tones in the bird’s feathers identify it as a precious creature.  The smudgy black and white pigment is more painterly than illustrative, and adds an element of mystery and melancholy.  In this resigned gesture I see acquiescence or surrender- the bird’s head blocked out from view.  But while I interpret these images in connection to mortality, the reference to quantum in their titles could address the idea of the birds as containers of stored energy, or as minute, but integral parts of a more significant whole..