Small Paintings Are Huge

In preparations for next month’s “Absolute & Complements” show at the Schnormeier Gallery (Mt. Vernon, OH), I’ve been working on a handful of new paintings. This latest painting is from the same piece of wood as “Absolute: Certainty” and is just as petite. Although small in size, it still has much to say. Read on to learn more

Pictured is a honey locust thorn with a thin thread tied around it in a bow. Below the thorn is a white circle (aka the complement) laid on top of a long thin strip of what appears to be paper or a ribbon (aka the absolute). The circular shape is called the complement because the circle is the natural brother to the line. They historically go hand in hand with each other.

The raw  painted edges and intentionally left pencil lines hint at a process of unfinished business. At just over 5 inches, this is the 2nd smallest painting I’ve ever made. Its only minimally dwarfed by its sister painting mentioned above. Similar in color and from the same stock as its predecessor, this piece seeks to engage in the next step of the visual conversation.

One aspect of this website is to show perhaps the unseen sides of being an artist. What better way to do that than to show the unseen sides of an artist’s work. As with many pieces in this suite of paintings, there is a 12 digit code stamped into the piece from the back. This code has hidden information known only to me for my authentication process. There’s also the title, my signature, date, and another mystery set of  numbers. Click on the image to see it up close.

As you can see from this side view, the image is totally flat and painted onto the surface of the wood. The red color of the cherry wood has been painted over with a transparent layer as to deepen the natural red hue of the wood’s face.

Below: pre-framing process w/ my trusty Festool sander!