Perturbed Fields

Each Perturbed Field begins with exploratory graphite “dowsing” that attempts to catch incipient energy flows. In time, one or more fields emerge. As elements on the page interact with each other, perturbations occur, and some are resolved. I think of each drawing as an intuitive graphical calculus, demonstrating how flows become forms, and how forms shape flows.

Each drawing seeks to create subtle figure/ground tensions. At one level, these utilize traditional concepts of figure/ground to mean negative and positive space in balance, each contributing to the composition in equal measure. In addition, though, each drawing suggests clues that could be read within the canon of architectural drawings—plan, section, elevation, perspective, axonometric—then “flipped” to provide a simultaneous spatial reading of a different sort. Here Josef Albers’s “Despite Straight Lines” project provides inspiration.

Each drawing develops within a genealogy of “perturbations:”

            Orbs

            Thickets

            Confluences

            Echoes and harmonies

            Patches, screens, and gauzes

Signature elements include:

            Knots, attaching non-parallel flows to each other

            Punctuations, ending flows definitively

            Trails, suggesting the potential of continuation

            Densities, showing concentrated flows


24” x 19” graphite on Strathmore