2:21 pm: got a bit of a late start today....taking care of exhibition stuff....so i'm working on grey 2, which had a division 3/4 of the way down the canvas that kind of cut it in two. i'll post the earlier version, so you can see what i've done so far to remedy that.
while working into the piece, using a fair amount of water, some of the collaged pieces bugan to lift off the canvas. i tore them off completely, following the natural tear paths and creating some cool new shapes. very much in keeping with my focus on process. i can't just correct one section; instead i need to engage the entire suface, in the process sacraficing some cool passages for the benefit of the whole.
the earlier version is on the left. the current state brings to mind one of my heros, the great chilean painter, roberto matta, who i always felt, looking at his paintings in MOMA, was traveling about the universe, recording the collision of stars and unknown objects zinging by.
BELOW: a painting by matta
3:33 pm: another thought i had while studying the work i did today on grey 2: i remembered, during our paris trip of 2012, standing on the metro platform across from a large wall ad. it had been torn in ways only the french could invent, creating what seemed to me to be a masterpiece. it revealed to me a previously unknown aspect of my aesthetic, which relates to the tearing i did today on grey 2. i photographed it, but just now, in trying to find it i came up with nothing. although i did find this menu cover from a le hangar, a restaurant you should NOT miss if you're in paris! on that trip we spent a lot of time in the musee quai branley; something else only the french could have created. don't miss it. indigenous art from around the world, especially oceania, asia and africa, displayed brilliantly and peppered with relevant short videos.