In my most recent paintings, “Common Plants”, I wanted to use the simplest forms to create an opportunity to see commonplace plants as worthy of closer inspection.
“Common Plants”
Two terms I have been thinking about lately:
When I encounter the natural world in preserved or built environments, I like to try to attune myself to a way of observing that reduces perceptual habituation. I engage in an observation game where the object is Cognitive Estrangement. The poor cardinal, so repeated on greeting cards, garden flags, and logos loses its ability to arrest with its bright plumage unless I train my brain to observe as an alien might on seeing one for the first time. Then it is so bright red against white snow. A true gift we are surrounded by every day in traffic and at our jobs.
In these paintings I wanted to use the simplest forms to create an opportunity to see commonplace plants as worthy of closer inspection. The process I used was to observe the plants as closely as possible and record accurately and idealize as a botanist might for identification. I used simple geometric shapes as a way of creating my own alchemic symbols. They don’t need to heal, transmute or turn tin to gold. But maybe they turn some mundane thing into an object worthy of a second look.
