PORTAL #2
2023
​collage, photographic print, pencil, ink, acrylic, plexiglass, resin, recycled wood -- 12" x 12" x 3"
About the series:
Portals is a series of work inspired during a routine walk to my local corner store, outside of which stand three trees, in variant states of death and decay. On the sidewalk in front of me, a woman and her husband loudly complained about these “eyesores,” lamenting the neighborhood’s failure to remove the trees. Since relocating to southern California, I have fallen in love with the strange, Dr. Seuss-like beauty of arboreal and botanical life here – particularly these trees, with their fractal-like, intricate patterns of darkness and light, life and death, hollow spaces and foreclosed openings. The overheard exchange provoked in me a sharp pang of sorrow at the couple’s preference for the neon-green, unblemished artificiality of seeming astroturf over the strikingly beautiful uniqueness in these enigmatic markers of natural life, passing-in-process.
Portals is my (unstated) interjection into the conversation; each iteration of the series begins with a photograph of the trees, which I then process into a new vision through a combination of collage, colored pencil, and paint. “Eyesore” could not be further from the truth of my experience with these silent creatures – a deeply personal impression the series intends to bring to life for viewers. I emphasize natural imperfections that, when juxtaposed in a meditative symmetry, offer up the possibility of portals into other worlds, the enigmatic sacred spaces of a tree’s rich, long life – filled with innumerable memories, experiences, and sights beyond the knowledge of a human’s short lifespan and limited vision.
Portals is my (unstated) interjection into the conversation; each iteration of the series begins with a photograph of the trees, which I then process into a new vision through a combination of collage, colored pencil, and paint. “Eyesore” could not be further from the truth of my experience with these silent creatures – a deeply personal impression the series intends to bring to life for viewers. I emphasize natural imperfections that, when juxtaposed in a meditative symmetry, offer up the possibility of portals into other worlds, the enigmatic sacred spaces of a tree’s rich, long life – filled with innumerable memories, experiences, and sights beyond the knowledge of a human’s short lifespan and limited vision.
