urban free time

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on January 29, 2022 at 9:20am

Curator’s Comments:

The complexly layered Urban Free Time caught my attention today, causing me to delight in its richly layered collage. Despite the densely built up fragments of cut papers, the painting maintains a bright and airy mood.  Perhaps the intent of the piece is that we can collectively rise above the fray in urban life to find meaningful pieces above us?  The balloon shapes the figures hold above the houses and loosely built architectural structures encapsulate more intense color, and for me, read both as floating balloons and thought bubbles.  I also think of the linear paper strips below, which appear to contain text, as crossing and competing conversations, collectively forming a map of a city grid.  With longer viewing I’m also curious about the small balls or “feet” on the four buildings, precariously  elevated on loosely drawn risers.  The homes  tilt, and appear poised to roll off of their too small platforms; imperiling the calm figures in repose on and in them.  While these narrative tracts hold my interest, the exquisite subtlety of the piece lies in the milky whites and semi-transparent muted tones. Looking more closely, the shapes I had thought of as simple risers contain many small white windows.  The white windows suggest additional, unseen inhabitants within those columns, or white thumbprints. Many ideas are held simultaneously as I contemplate this work, including how your sculptural ball installations echo the relationship of the figure to a many-faceted expanse.