2023-2024 Color Bombs With Wings and Color Bombs
Another look at "So Far So Nar” outside. Recently at the opening of “Stellar Spirits” at James Oliver gallery in Philadelphia we had an impromptu gallery talk. I talked about how titles are an integral part of my process. For me they are a way to cap off the work, or a way to fine tune the painting as it is nearing completion. Titles begin to drop out of the sky as I am working and they can be a sort of beacon to follow to help finish a work. “So Far So Nar” came about for multiple reasons. Many of the recent work in this show have large areas of a single color, or gradations of a color. Lots of blue. I’m a swimmer and I think the blues are always hinting at big bodies of water. The minimal placement of shapes makes me think of the vastness of the ocean and of the pings that a submarine makes, or the cries of a whale traveling thousands of miles. I think that’s where the title started with the “So Far So Nar”…so far, sonar…? I really don’t know. I’m also a lover of dada and the absurd and I like the way “So Far So Nar” sounds. I don’t pretend to understand where all this comes from and I don’t want to. I paint because it is all mysterious. If I knew the reason behind everything what would be the point? Maybe I just like color and bending lines. I always say nobody really asks what a Charlie Parker solo means or represents. It is the thing, the one and only thing. It’s about questions, not answers. But more than everything else it’s about how it feels and whether it moves you or not.