“Grace For The Night Orchid”
acrylic latex on sailcloth
44” x 38”
1997

 

In 1997 I was exploring the world of non-representational abstracts, which is way harder than it sounds. Making a successful painting that just expresses an idea or feeling is tough work and my hat is off (as they say) to the abstract expressionists. Even though this painting isn’t about anything but the pleasure of creating it still ended up looking like a flower to me. A night orchid to be specific.

One of the pleasures of abstraction is the sheer joy of moving paint around. This is a visceral pleasure and when you get to express yourself on a bigger canvas like this one it’s a lot of fun. The frame of this particular piece was constructed from four smaller silkscreen frames. I hammered them together and stretched sailcloth across it.

This piece was part of The Grace Series of 1996-97. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this group of about 30 paintings occupied my mind during this period. While I explored other creative activities like collaging and doing cut-and-paste poetry during this time The Grace Series continued…