This drawing began with crumpling up the paper. Upon unfolding and attempting to flatten the paper, the paper’s original sharpness and crispness is lost, and one is left with a surface that is softened and flawed. The creases mar the surface and are impossible to avoid. Rather than begin a drawing with a fresh sheet of paper, I attempted to work with the flawed body, and work within the creases, indeed making them a vital part of the composition. These creases as well leave the drawing no longer flat but textured and 3-dimensional. See this recent nytimes article on the study of this phenomenon.
This drawing feels a continuation and embrace of the contemplative aspects of my drawing and walking practices. The paper is pulled (drawn) into the body in an embrace, in order to create the giant crumpled ball. The paper is flattened, but not flawlessly. There is a labor in the making of the object, and a stillness and presence I enter into when filling the spaces.
So each day, each new sheet of paper, each step presents a path forward – a different, open, destabilized path – into…something else. That which is. I am feeling it out as I go. Feeling, not referencing. What am I feeling out? That which is there, but not there. That which is present, but hidden. Dark clarity, clear darkness.