pools of life

Stepping stones out the window (3 x 4')

I just finished this drawing a few days ago. It's based on the themes of identity and trancparency, memories, and the notion of the insider/outsider. The two figures are both me, but it's intentionally ambiguous to the viewer whether they are both me, or me and my twin Dana. I've been using the patterns of forms I find in the tidepools-clumps of mussel shells, water bubbles, coral and kelp- to talk about transparency and multiplicity. I like the way patterns set up contingencies- each mark relies on the ones around it to become the pattern. I think of it the same way people, especially twins, rely on each other for their being. Whether good or bad, that's the way we form ourselves and our personalities-based on the things and people around us. The transparency through a pool of water is so interesting, visually and mentally-there are layers being formed through the pool and up to your eye. The water from the ocean flows in and out, leaving its history behind, it's pools of life that couldn't live there any other way.
The notion of the outsider is present in the looks of the figures, the way the one on the right is looking at the viewer as if they are an intruder, like "what are you doing here." Most of the time in my work the figures' gaze is down or up, very introspective, but this one came out kind of confrontational. It's pretty different as a whole from the dreamy minimal paintings I was doing before this one, but I like it. I worked on it in layers more like my etchings, which is interesting. More next week...