When we paint, we strive to work cohesively as a unit. We usually place a number of blank surfaces (cradled board, canvas, or paper) in a row and work on the pieces one-by-one in a line. At some point, we will flip the canvases or rotate them 180º. Our goal is to allow an idea or a series of ideas to rise up out of the process. All decisions are made together and critique is built in. There is a constant back and forth of destroying things and rebuilding or starting over. Sometimes we take on roles while painting. Often these roles are associated with color or light or value. For instance, one of us may play the role of Cerulean Blue while the other plays the role of Cadmium Yellow. The act of painting for us is a kind of performance where we must each balance adding, subtracting, and letting go.
Recent work: 20A, 21A, 22A
These images represent work we undertook during the pandemic.
22A
2022, Acrylic on Cradled Board
21A
2021, Acrylic on Canvas
21A was developed after the lockdown began. The series reflects on the isolation and dissolution of our civil lives. Suddenly we were all shut-ins with only our immediate family and our problems. Tethered only to our dependants and our screens, bored, restless, and angry at an endless cycle of news stories that we cannot understand or control.
20A
2020, Acrylic on Canvas
20A draws on the collective experience of catastrophe. While reflecting on the response to the global pandemic, we remembered other crises we had lived through-9/11, climate change, extreme weather, and how those events, though terrible, created cohesion, a sense of collective consciousness through collective suffering.