Fortuitous Recovery

fortuitous |fôrˈto͞oədəs| (adjective) happening by accident or chance rather than design
recovery |rəˈkəv(ə)rē| (noun) a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength

Fortuitous because I had no idea what I was doing. Recovery because I realized I actually did.

The Work: A bas-relief series using basswood, vellum, graph paper, and graphite—materials that bring me back to late-night architecture school. Each piece explores fortuitous relationships between elements, giving conceptual grounding to paintings I'd made intuitively from 2013-2018, without conscious thought of my architectural influences.

The Discovery: Forms stayed with me over time, like a memory of my first kiss or my mother's spaghetti. The Grid showed up in my paintings from the beginning, organizing my work. I repeat this form to the point that I'm no longer thinking about the action of making paintings. I get lost in the shape, and could be there to an almost infinite period.

"…the grid is fully, even cheerfully, schizophrenic…logically speaking, the grid extends, in all directions, to infinity…" - Rosalind Krauss, 1979

The Shift: The grid became a character in my work, no longer a formula. Pain found refuge in the never-ending creation of gestural squares all within reach of each other. It served as clarity because it was about relationships—not just on the flat page, but between the person and the object, the drawing of objects and the space not used. This station point is how I've approached my work, knowing how it would land in a space with a person standing and absorbing it all.

The Realization: There was a point when I discovered that where the building ends, begins the life of that space. I didn't want to be an architect anymore, but rather, one who watches intently to see what is built from that day forward.

Medium: Bas-relief with basswood, vellum, graph paper, graphite
Inspiration: 20 years after leaving architecture school, recovering what stayed with me