Journal of Student Research 2019

Journal of Student Research

Gnosis: In knowing

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Painting becomes a portal enabling us to see into the spiritual realm; it is enigmatic in the way it communicates a visual language. My body of work is influenced from corporeal experiences: a source of an object, readings, myths, and the self. The materials I choose manifest an endless dialogue. I use a language which the viewer must decode, akin to how the materials I select are to me. I allow the artwork to take on a presence. To create this type of work allows me to be both expressive and informative. When I paint, I layer various tones of color that are added and subtracted onto the surface; the colors overlay one another, cascading in translucency. During this process an awareness occurs, resulting in ritualism; scratching and cleansing as I paint. It is a form of boundaries that does not exist in the spiritual, but the disease must be contained to be viewed in the real world. Hence, the art expands like a disease . There is no cure. The disease calls for an audience to be recognized. This sickness wants to be appreciated, not as a stranger, but celebrated as a living presence. For the disease to be understood, its presence becomes embodied within in my paintings. This disease requires many viewers’ gaze to polish the surface with radiance. Without the stranger and the disease , one cannot understand beyond the physical realm.

Waning Arch 2018 charcoal, sepia and paper on stretched canvas 72”x 48”

Table of Contents

Table of Contents