This painting actually preceded the one you saw in the last post. This composition consists primarily of vertical lines with horizontals making only a tentative entrance. Compared to the later painting, Up-drip, Side-drip, this one looks like an investigation. An exciting investigation, to be sure. All art is an investigation.
Because the drips in this version are fewer and don’t rush to the opposite edge, they appear to meander like branches. As up-drips they appear to sprout skyward, suggesting organic forms. We don’t get that illusion in the later Up-drip, Side-drip where the drips read like straight lines drawn with a nicked ruler.
These two paintings appear to promise a series—further investigations. Who knows where the grid will lead us, how the drips will rush or meander and…we haven’t even talked about those circles yet.
Notice, when the drips actually drip like drips, your mind wanders to more literalness, as in “what’s this red stuff dripping here, where am I and what do these other colors represent?” Literalness is not so interesting, is it.
Veronica Sax, painting in acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 30,” early November 2016
All contents copyright (C) 2010 Katherine Hilden. All rights reserved.
artamaze by Katherine Hilden 