The lack of color in the subjects creates a void of calm. The objects have been painted using the colors of mourning. I’ve only noticed it in hindsight after the series has come to a conclusion. This may have been a subconscious choice to acknowledge the grave state of life in New York City.
Having been exposed to the black paintings of Pierre Soulages was a source of inspiration for this series, hearkening back to the all encompassing nature of black in color. The way black is created using a heavy mixture of all colors allows the background to reflect in interesting ways on the surface of the objects. The heavy encaustic paint that Soulages used to create his works acted as foggy mirrors in black. The reflective surfaces of the paintings abstracted the colors of the environment where they were seen, revealing the totality of the color black. The all black compositions of Louise Nevelson as ever present fixtures in most modern art museums were often seen on my periphery trips but not acknowledged in the research phase of this project. Unconsciously I have created tableau that would easily nest within her monochromatic assemblages. The small assemblages I have assembled fit in the worlds created by her shelving and cabinetry.
The choice to use white as a main color in this series ties to its classical symbolic associations with Order, reason, purity and truth. In this series the use of white was primarily to create a binary color relationship with black representing light and dark, the passage of day and night through the pandemic. Mimicking the subtle changes in the monotony of quarantine.
Empty vessels hidden through opaque coatings of paint. The idea of an object designed for holding being absent of that contents is a fun visual trope. Often in the photograph we use trickery to produce the ideal version of something for the fractional moment needed to record it. In response to the deception of a photographed object I choose to cover the imperfections in dense paint to make it a perfect version that has lost function beyond the image it's used for.
The objects in white represent the punched holes on the edges. Further pushing the idea of the lines seen in the foreground and background of the compositions representing the blank page of school paper. The white on white or black on black compositions create voids in the lines similarly to the three hole punch on notebook paper.
The limited exchange between the object or figures and the setting is extreme in its limitation. “No, exchange, no seepage, no spillage. Rather: isolation, confinement” (Batchelor 21). Illustrated in part by the restraint in object selection. Most of the objects are uniquely bland in their everydayness easily cast aside but omnipresent. The most significant defining characteristic of the separation between the subject and setting is found in the contrast in color between the two. Removing all color on the object or using all of them to the max depending on your ideas of additive and subtractive processes results in an unsettling border between the two.
Combining objects that hold (vessels) with instruments for consumption the conclusion of emptiness is suggested. In support of the object selections value in creating a relationship that implies the act of consuming a memory. The spoon with a bottle is common place enough to be a universal shared subliminal experience understood immediately to most. This leads the viewer to assume that these objects were used in the act of emptying. In some cases the objects are paired incorrectly as a symbol of frustration and futility. The impotence of trying to move a thing with a single strand of uncooked creates a tenuous lightness established between the vessels.
Emptiness communicated through the vessels being open and void of contents. The idea of emptiness is seen in these works quite literally in several ways. The images consist of a very limited color palette. The elemental objects that are the subject of the images are only black and white. Acting as visual representations of the additive and subtractive color pallets used during the photographic process begun through light and finished with ink. Any object that acts as a vessel is physically emptied of its contents. These bottles, jars or cans are seen in a way that would normally leave that question ambiguously answered immediately through the title of the series. You cannot see whether on not anything remains in the containers but the viewer can be sure that the objects are not full to the brim. Bringing the question how little must remain in the container to qualify as empty.
