Suspended Disbelief

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on November 16, 2011 at 4:47pm

Curator’s Comment:

 

Suspended disbelief is an exquisitely rich image, as the cogent elements of mechanical gears and a bird in flight resonate with dichotomous rapport.  The heavy textural quality of the gears carries an enormity of visual weight, especially suspended within the top section of the work. The warm brown tones remind me of sepia photography with an aged, abraded surface.  The close color relationship with the disparate elements pulls the forms together in a sort of symbiotic relationship, but the bird in this picture seems more ethereal than the related earth bound counterparts in the series.  I also really enjoy the visual movement within the center. The glowing backlit ground contributes to the evocative, otherworldly space.  I wonder if the top gear is intentionally suggestive of an architectural oculus.  I interpret the work as having a strong mood of spiritual suspension, or transition.  It’s optimistic. But the bird as a figurative stand-in, frozen in space and time, remains ever suspended between two physical realms.  Your piece titled Mother Goddess Temple goes further in constructing an overt altar, whereas I see a more dynamic implied temple in the light within the first image (Suspended ).  I will say I also take pleasure in the iconographic complexity of Mother Goddess, with the strong symmetrical balance and repetition of oval shapes and forms.   But the dramatically contrasting values are more foreboding, and suggest a darker side to the alternate realms presented.  There’s a lot to take in, and read into the dense layers of opulent and fertile symbolism..