The Spell of The Sensuous

Reading #5

Materials: acrylic paint on canvas

Dimensions: 13"x18"

"There is no element of the landscape that is definitively void of expressive resonance and power: any movement may be a gesture, any sound may be a voice, a meaningful utterance."- pg.117

For this reading and piece I really wanted to focus on the idea of any movement being a gesture. So, I attempted to translate that movement and gesture on to a piece of canvas by first cutting and ripping it, and then painting it. What I love about this piece that everywhere you look there are small glimpses of movement and gesture, be it in the cut marks, the way the canvas twists and turns and folds, the way it makes shadows and even how its panted. 

Reading #6

 

Materials: acrylic paint on canvas

Dimensions: (2) 15"x15"

"The experiencing body is not a self-enclosed object, but an open, incomplete entity."- pg.125

I was really drawn to this small portion of the reading and how it described the body as an "incomplete" entity rather than a self enclosed object. With this fascination, I decided to do a similar piece to the one I did for Reading #5. I really enjoy making these strange, movement filled canvas pieces, even more so I really felt they have taken a on a sort of gestural/ oddly figurative nature, or animism. With that, I wanted this piece to slightly reference the body. I also decided on two separate parts that make the one piece to emphasize this idea of the incomplete entity. 

Reading #7

Materials: joint compound, acrylic on canvas

Dimensions:16"x20"

"In the absence of writing, we find ourselves situated in the field of discourse as we are embedded in the natural landscape; indeed, the two matrices are not separable. We can no more stabilize the language and render its meanings determinate than we can freeze all motion and metamorphosis within the land"-pg.140

With this reading was really fascinated by the concept of the language of landscape. With that I decided to use joint compound which has a"language" of its own....it makes its own movements, its malleable so gravity has a lot to do with the final dry product. After my joint compound took its shape I painted the canvas with "earthy" colors to try produce a landscape-esq feeling.