Slippery Geometry, Series B–I
homemade black carrot ink on paper, 22x30
2021

On something of a whim, I made a foray into homemade ink. I had an unexpected harvest of black nebula carrots—more than I could reasonably eat. Furthermore, I realized they stained surfaces worse than beets. So with a minimum of online guidance I took a stab at making ink.

Armed with two bottles, I set out to try a new branch of the Slippery Geometry series. Having tried and failed before to introduce the odd circle to the rigid lines of Series A, I decided to give this new branch it’s own character by instead focusing exclusively on curved lines.

The two bottles painted differently, and have aged differently. They both painted bright magenta, but the first quickly aged to a deep indigo. The first half of the second bottle has thus far remained purplish, but the more I ussesd it, the more it faded to a pale gray.

In the long run, I can’t say how these works will age: perhaps they are what they will be or maybe they will all fade to gray eventually. As I have read, working with homemade inks necessitates embracing those changes.

Slippery Geometry, Series A–I
walnut ink on paper, 22x30
2020

Slippery Geometry combines two long-time obsessions of mine into a single execution. As with many artists, a healthy portion of my practice stems from a love of the materials and tools. For me this has, across my life, often expressed itself as an interest in monochromatic works—pieces that explore image making with a single material.

I’ve also spent years trying to find a way to make abstract, linear works with inherently ‘wet’ materials. As such, it’s a desire to knowingly make work where the materials and the concept do not meet well. Perfect ideals meet imperfect means; exercises in futility, as it were (there’s a metaphor for life in there somewhere…)

This collection of works merges the two ideas: multi-layered linear geometric abstracts in monochromatic, water soluble inks. The goal is a constant field, without a center of focus—filled with shapes that continually divide the work into numerous sub-compositions.