Much of my recent artistic exploration has been about the way visual perception of three-dimensional space may, in its translation into a two-dimensional format such as in a drawing or painting, coalesce as not only illusion but also as compositional formatting across the picture plane. A plane of color may be both flat surface interlocking with its neighbors and a receding plastic arena indicating distance and spatial relationships. An edge may – with angular force, contrast, and implied line – be both demarcation and cohesion, both joining and separating the shorthand elements of either illusion or formal structure.

So it is that I have been creating images that attempt to play with the edge between 2D compositional formatting and the illusion of 3D space. My guide is always perception – that is, my own sense that a form keys into illusion as well as into flat shape. Some of the works are more clearly abstract (seemingly without referent) while others are more obviously depictive. Yet both are aiming at the same goal. Below I present works in this vein I’ve been making over the last year or so – these are just a few of what is a growing body of work.

Ideal Form #2, Mezzotint and gouache, 7 inches in diameter.

Two Bells, Acrylic on panel, 24 inches in diameter.

The Seedbed (#1, Subtractive), Graphite on paper on panel, 23.5 inches in diameter.

Untitled Template Drawing, Graphite and gouache on paper, 20 inches in diameter.

Untitled Template Drawing (A 5 for Daniggelis), Graphite, ink, and gouache on paper, 20 inches in diameter.

Seven Mandalas for the Murky History of Beginnings and Endings, #3, Marker, graphite, ink, collage and white-out on paper, 6.25 inches in diameter. Collection of Ian and Natalie Shelly, New Albany, IN.

Seven Mandalas for the Murky History of Beginnings and Endings, #5, Marker, graphite, ink, collage and white-out on paper, 6.25 inches in diameter. Collection of Tim and Denya Wolff, Camden, NY.

Pivot, Paper collage, gouache, and acrylic on paper, 9 inches in diameter.

For Tatlin, Paper collage, gouache, and acrylic on paper, 9 inches in diameter.

The Teachers, Oil on Panel, 24 inches in diameter.

The Resonators (In Progress), Oil on Panel, 12 inches in diameter.

Next post: I’ll break down the 2D and 3D binaries I’m thinking of in some of these works. Also, I wrote some initial thoughts about this process of settling in on a new focus in this post: “What I’ve Been Musing on Recently.”