Sifting Through the Past in the Present is the Future Painting

This piece is one of the artist’s “recycled works,” part of a growing body of work created when the artist deconstructs and transforms previous artwork. In this particular piece, the various recycled fragments of artwork have been encased in resin, which gives the finished piece and unique high-gloss finish. The resin also creates a quality of translucency in the paper underneath, along with some staining in the fragments, that give it a unique look and feel. The underlying fragments come from various mixed-media and painted works on paper that have been reduced to fragments, which have then been rearranged and re-created as newly transformed artworks. This artistic “recycling” process is open-ended and has been underway for over twenty years, and results in a variety of sculptural and three-dimensional installation works, in addition to two dimensional works. All works in this series are interconnected and interrelated, and share history and meaning. The forms, colors, and textures that comprise any individual piece evolve through the transformation of earlier work. This process, and the evolving history of the raw material used to produce the work, confer upon these works conceptual significance beyond their immediate visual characteristics, and engage viewers in the process itself. This piece is constructed on a wood box frame. The piece is ready to hang. The Resin based works are difficult to convey in photographs, in part because of the high gloss finish. The side view photograph is probably the most accurate, and in some photos, reflections cast by the surface are visible.