January 16, 2010

Threshold Apprehension


I've come up with a title of this piece finally:

Threshold Apprehension

I thought of the name while listening to the same titled song by Black Francis. Here's a few of the lyrics that sort of apply:

Some people die, then they start to get old
But I don’t wanna die upon on the threshold
I got threshold apprehension


Though this song was written by another artist and it's meaning and purpose might be a yonder away from what I intend with my own Threshold Apprehension, I thought it was a succinct title for the purpose of MY painting.

Which is: the story of the FEAR OF EDGES. We groan and gnash our teeth over things that imply a disturbance of consciousness. Death, meditation, drugs, sitting silently long enough in darkness and examining the back of our eyes, fasting, even changing your mind sufficiently (like conversion experience) can bring the whole curtain down on us we think (fear) sometimes.

I am not a brave soul, myself. Quite chicken-shit, actually. I deal with anxieties over these road bumps way more than I like and this piece is about what the abyss of unknown looks like when it stares me down in darkness.



It's photographed on an angle because I don't have any reflection-reducing glass and the central portion is all done in graphite (graphite is very reflective, even if you're not using a flash). The only way I know how to show this piece without a lot of sheen is to just photograph it from an angle. Anyway, you get a pretty good idea, this way. I think I'm going to have it professionally scanned or photographed before I get it framed... I don't think I have a choice.

I'd say I'm about 85% done the way I like it.... but time runs out like a blade and I might have to make due with where it is.

The one thing about art I never like, is deciding when to be finished.

2 comments:

  1. Hi! I really enjoyed reading your process. I have the same trouble, knowing when a painting is done. I read that Picasso said he sometimes wished he had someone to pull him away from a canvas. I feel that way sometimes too!

    P.S. I really love your work.

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