August 19, 2008
Recently I took my Ancient Boats Room Divider out of storage and set it up in an open room. It had been a few years since I had unfolded the heavy art object, and there is always a strange, unattached experience when I have come across work I created but have not seen for along time.
In 2003 I created the four paneled piece because I wanted something that the viewer had to walk around, instead of view on a wall. A large painting sprawls one complete side while the other is made up of small paintings within rectangles.
The red, gold, black and light-blue color scheme is taken from ancient paintings created by bygone empires found in research; The limited color pallet looked striking and also regal in nature.
On the large panel the perspective is skewed so at the top of the painting the viewer looks up through the water and, as the eye shifts downward, the view also shifts through the water and down the length to the sandy bottom of an abstract sea. Boats that sailed across the water, abstract, showing motion and then, disperse into bits and pieces sprawled across the quiet landscape. Boats have been the symbol for movement, and at times, progress: transportation and change.
The painting was created toward the end of a series on Ancient Boats which evolved after watching a National Geographic special on the Black Sea. I was fascinated at the abstracted sight of ancient boats caught in the lens of deep-sea-diving cameras. Debris washed through the murky depth like confetti floating through air, while plant and animal life was minimal due to high acid content in the water. Preserved artifacts were left abandoned on the sandy bottom, as if in wait, I imagined, for someone to seek and find.
At the time I was struck by this metaphor, in context with a shift within my own personal views. Influenced by writers that emphasized the connection to the past in order to make something new in our present time, I did not feel that any artist or person was ever separated from history, experience, or our own personal time period when creating, and neither should these things be avoided in trying to make something new.
Obviously, the Ancient Boats Room Divider is not old yet — neither am I — and it says nothing about past cultures. Art is a reflection of the mindset of the artist, who is influenced by his own culture either by reflecting current trends or going against it.
This work took me six months to complete. In a time when what is popular and known is only new, but also fleeting, I wanted to create something that was detailed, large, took a vast amount of time to create, and could not be reproduced easily.
It has been several years now since I completed this series and bridged into another about fabric and pattern. Yet, on occasion I am asked if I would revisit this subject for more paintings. The answer is no. For me, this series was not only specific with colors and subject, but also the years 2003-2004. If I were to stir up that dust again it would become something entirely new, even with the same hands.