Opticks

Featured in the 124th Annual Student Exhibition at PAFA.

Awarded: Judith McGregor Caldwell Purchase Prize for the Academy's Permanent Collection (PAFA)

As a part of my MFA thesis, aspects of light were incredibly important to painting in general, but also exploring elements of space and spacetime. When one considers the darkness of space to actually be the light from objects moving further away, perceptions can shift. What are we actually seeing? How can paint be layered and combined in ways that trick or engage the eye?

Diving deeper into the Black Dada of Adam Pendleton, the Gestaltung of the Bauhaus school, Sun Ra's afrofuturistic viewpoints, and works by Giorgio Agamben, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I managed to cobble togther a bunch of words about art, occasionally making sense but also mastering the art of run-on sentences. In truth, it really was a solid exploration and starting point for more studies on abstraction. As you may have noted, most of my abstract works have an ethereal or atmospheric energy, and things tend to get nebulous at times. That is all mostly by design, and partially due to being a nerd at heart.

In 1704, Isaac Newton published a series titled Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. When taking into consideration the number of art-related conversations I've had in recent years, Newton's work seemed fitting for a title.

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