Untitled ,Whit-a-gram 050222, graphite and colored pencil on candle smoked paper, 15”Wx12” H, 2022, NFS
As the world has spun out of control over the past several years, I have found myself seeking calm and order in my drawing practice. By putting pencil to paper I leave the political, social, and environmental upheaval engulfing our country and retreat to the peaceful, ordered world of geometric abstraction. The mysterious ability of geometric abstraction to move and soothe the fragile human heart has always fascinated me.
I love the cryptic nature of the conversation between abstract art and human emotion. Agnes Martin spent a lifetime creating her quiet rectangular grid paintings in an effort to depict happiness on canvas. What a glorious pursuit, and she did it with a simple line.
In the work shown here I have been exploring what I might create with the language of geometry. The process is intuitive. I add and subtract shapes and layers, lines and patterns, until somehow it seems right. When the drawing feels finished, I stop and move on. The act of drawing these abstractions always soothes my troubled soul.