Blog

Black is a powerful color, full of mystery and possibility. I always believed chaos is a fruitful void. So much possibility, makes me think of seeds pushing through the dirt. These days are very dark and worrisome. It makes the beauty we are loosing, the languages, the knowledge, the connection all the more luminous. The darkness will overtake us and we will have to go back to seeing the beauty through the ashes.

I thought about what this picture means, and although painting is transmitted visually, sometimes words bubble up; I think about things when I paint. Pushing a viscous substance around on a panel is only one aspect of making an image.
I love wolves, so it might seem incongruous to visually depict the canine in a somewhat menacing situation, The wolf is blocking the road ahead, and coming from or returning to, the darkness. It brings to mind Cerberus, guardian of the underworld. Of course, a depiction isn't a real animal, but a metaphoric one. This is about worry, about not seeing what lies ahead. The future. We know we will die, we just cant say for sure when. We go forth blindly in a way, looking for markers, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs or cairns.
A wolf is wild, it can't be contained, freedom and fear all in one spirit. A wolf alone is a more despairing animal, just as people are. We are meant to be around each other, to form bonds and community. Family is everything. Imagining loosing a special companion makes this painting have a special resonance.