As astute readers know, the tradition of doing a Death Series—honoring people or animals significant to our culture—has been running for a few years now. In 2023 we witnessed Oregon artist Katherine Ace (b. 1951) leaving.
One of Ace’s quotes I especially enjoyed is about what motivates her work. She said, “The intersection of contraries fascinates me: life and death; humor and tragedy; beauty and corruption; natural and constructed realities; experience and news. I am captivated by complex issues that we all face, and yet experience personally, intimately. I am interested in the role of dark feelings, thoughts and states of mind in the process of transformation. I am drawn to fire beneath reserve.”
For more on bits of what moves specific artists to create see Verum Ultimum’s discussion from the artists (including me) about Abstract Catalyst #9: https://www.verumultimumartgallery.com/single-post/abstract-catalyst-9-artists-reveal-what-propels-the-innovation-machine-that-pulses-inside-them.
In working on the Intersection of Contraries the concept of opposites, contraries, struck me as an unfinished statement.
For sure the contrary elements are in the composition: black/white background to the north/south, east and west; forms are halved and given new shape (for example, a halved square can yield two triangles); forms are generally positioned along the inter-sectional axis (from corners to corners). Sometimes the association is by color: based on the primary pigments—red, yellow, blue—combinations are considered “complementary,” though opposites on a standard color wheel. So a person can find blue and orange, red and green, yellow and purple used as pairings. Aside from these strictures, whimsy enters—the pointing arrows, the two halves of a circle matching in their gray color, a circle and square facing each other.
Yet to address the unfinished-ness of the statement (particularly as we’re experiencing a radical change in Earth’s climate and facing political elections) I used the border to speak.
The white backgrounds to the east/west are open. The border surrounding the primary composition represents all that brings things together, connection, awareness, love. I do believe we are at our best connected, not establishing further contraries. Perhaps it’s enough to step into accepting “We’re all in this together.”
One of Ace’s quotes I especially enjoyed is about what motivates her work. She said, “The intersection of contraries fascinates me: life and death; humor and tragedy; beauty and corruption; natural and constructed realities; experience and news. I am captivated by complex issues that we all face, and yet experience personally, intimately. I am interested in the role of dark feelings, thoughts and states of mind in the process of transformation. I am drawn to fire beneath reserve.”
For more on bits of what moves specific artists to create see Verum Ultimum’s discussion from the artists (including me) about Abstract Catalyst #9: https://www.verumultimumartgallery.com/single-post/abstract-catalyst-9-artists-reveal-what-propels-the-innovation-machine-that-pulses-inside-them.
In working on the Intersection of Contraries the concept of opposites, contraries, struck me as an unfinished statement.
For sure the contrary elements are in the composition: black/white background to the north/south, east and west; forms are halved and given new shape (for example, a halved square can yield two triangles); forms are generally positioned along the inter-sectional axis (from corners to corners). Sometimes the association is by color: based on the primary pigments—red, yellow, blue—combinations are considered “complementary,” though opposites on a standard color wheel. So a person can find blue and orange, red and green, yellow and purple used as pairings. Aside from these strictures, whimsy enters—the pointing arrows, the two halves of a circle matching in their gray color, a circle and square facing each other.
Yet to address the unfinished-ness of the statement (particularly as we’re experiencing a radical change in Earth’s climate and facing political elections) I used the border to speak.
The white backgrounds to the east/west are open. The border surrounding the primary composition represents all that brings things together, connection, awareness, love. I do believe we are at our best connected, not establishing further contraries. Perhaps it’s enough to step into accepting “We’re all in this together.”
