Sometimes you don’t know where to start. When we tell a story, we mark a beginning and an end. The once upon a time and the happily ever after. The opening bait or the cryptic closing line.
The story I’ve been working on begins with color. Little squares of color hanging on the wall.
Since Friday, I’ve been installing my new work, what wakes you, at a neighborhood cafe. It’s a public work in progress at the moment, as I build it from night to night. I see this extended and public process of installation as storytelling. Visitors may not see the progression from day to day, or even look closely enough to notice the changes. (Not everyone who enters a coffee shop studies its walls, right?) And though most people may miss this part of the work all together, this organic and thought-filled process brings me a lot satisfaction!
I may be the only one tracing these lines together, almost like a secret story running parallel but hidden from plain view. Like I said, it began with color, clues to lead you in. Then I’ve slowly brought in my words and my questions. Then the colors began to pop and mix. And in the next few days, the words and paintings will hopefully begin to talk to each other and to you.
One fun (and scary!) thing about installing the show is the process of not knowing precisely how every piece fits with the other, but discovering how they can as you go along. You can share a different narrative just by placing unlikely paintings side by side or far apart. As I try one painting next to another next to another, I consider the story I want to tell, the place I want to take people to.
The story I’m telling ends with your story. Come by the launch on Saturday and see why!
View event details here.
speak soon 