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Working title: (dual Spanish titles inscribed on the back of the canvas; to be discussed with collector)
Date: 2011 (with later revisions)
Medium: Oil on canvas (hand-worked), framed
Origin (2011). I began this large-format painting in 2011. It took roughly three to four months to complete—my most meticulous period to date as I shifted from broader shapes to individual, shaded cubes. It followed immediately after Two white people meeting for the first time in an Indian restaurant, a closely related work in style and construction. Around that time I met the prolific painter John Rankin (then in his 70s), whose flat line-work backgrounds and uncompromising output left a mark on my approach.
Composition & process. The two principal oblique forms derive from found materials: I discovered two pieces of tree bark on the street, I set them on top of the canvas, spray-painted them, and used them as stencils to generate the exact silhouettes (with the small apertures at their crowns). They are pictured in the photos provided and come with the piece should the collector desire them. Those silhouettes read almost like figures and set the vertical rhythm. Behind and around them, I constructed fields of individually rendered cubes, each modeled and shaded by hand. The forms sit within a landscape that balances engineered geometry and open space.
Frame & first exhibition life. The painting was framed soon after completion and appeared in a few shows. Although the frame itself was high quality, it never suited the work, and—unusual for me—that mismatch cooled my affection for the piece for a time.
Long looking & second state. After exhibitions, the painting hung in my dining room opposite a bay window. I spent hundreds of hours with it—often sitting with my wife—studying the balances and feeling it needed more resolution. I eventually took it to the studio for a careful re-entry: I drew the white lines across the ocean, sanded and rebuilt the ground and reworked the bases (leaving a subtly abraded effect I liked). The adjustments clarified the composition without erasing its history.
Titles on back of canvas. I inscribed two Spanish titles on the back. They mattered to me at the time; I invite the collector to look them up—and then ask me about them after you acquire the work.
Viewing notes. Read the two bark-born obliques first; let them stand as counterparts across the field of cubes. Track the ocean white lines as a measured counter-rhythm, and notice how the abraded base and renewed ground knit the geometry to the landscape. The overall mood is calm and contemplative—a precision that never shouts.
Collector highlights
Pivotal year (2011): marks my shift into fully individual cube construction and more rigorous shading.
Distinct genesis: oblique “figures” created with found bark stencils; a rare, documented process choice.
Lived-with and refined: hundreds of hours of contemplation led to a resolved second state (ocean lines; rebuilt ground).
Exhibition history: shown in multiple venues; retained and reworked by the artist for final coherence.
Conversation piece: dual Spanish inscriptions on the back of the canvas add intrigue and provenance texture.
One-of-one: no prints; built to live with and reward sustained looking.