Hello, bloggers.

Here’s an update on the new work I’m doing in the studio...

It’s a continuation of what I was doing in Ireland, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s as far as I’ve gotten in the theory of the power of materials.

In my work, the viscosity of the materials is not consistent, because they’re running through different planes:  paint, linseed oil, turpentine, inks, and so on.

It’s as if you threw colored water over pocked stainless steel, stone, sand, and gravel...  It’s still the same water and the same color, but the visual experience is completely different because the materials interact in different ways with the world they happen to be in.

That, then, gives me the tension I’m always looking for:  the power, the loss of power, the absorptions, the differences within the same plane.

That’s really what my art is about:  taking something that is the same, putting it into a different culture, and seeing that they accept each other, they change, but they still remain the same.  It’s a paradox, but it is reality.

You can take a very strong color that is dominant in most cases, and you put it into an environment that is going to detract from the power as it goes through different fields—then all of a sudden, you don’t get the same effects you would have gotten in another context.

The whole theory of that is very exciting for me.I’m forever laying on many different layers and fluids that enhance or subtract from the whole and make it flow or pool or clump in different ways.

It’s a controlled chaos, but it really isn’t chaos; it’s known quantities.  It’s not interrupting nature; it’s tryting to be a partner with it.

To me, working like this is like learning a new language every day.  You start off with “Ay, caramba!” and you end up years later with a thesis presented before an esteemed academic panel.  Or you start out rolling over on your belly, and they you crawl, and then you get up and fall over, and down the road you’re in a triathalon.

Working like this is not like a stroke of lightning; it’s a gradual submersion into what started out as a formidable, unknown place, and coming to a place where all of a sudden you’re one of the fish swimming in the stream.

It’s very exciting if you’re into that kind of stuff.  Otherwise, it’s boring bullshit.

Matt