Last spring, I had the good fortune to hear a lecture by celebrated movie director Wim Wenders. Wenders described his filmmaking efforts as, in my paraphrasing, fighting the traditional dominance of the storyline. Why? To allow for the unexpected. To let other aspects emerge, which, he asserted, they would if given the space. To be able to receive artistic gifts as they unfolded—poetry in motion, he called it. I tucked these ideas away.
Did my intrigue with Wenders’ contrasting the storyline with poetics influence my artmaking? Or did it simply give me a useful framework, post-facto, to interpret what I had created? I’ve been puzzling about this question and can’t say for sure. But here is how things came together over the summer. I was experimenting with the color gray. I applied it in big, broad swaths overtop other paint. I found, as the gray was covering certain areas, that it also was illuminating and bringing focus to neighboring areas. What conceals also reveals.
I further discovered that I could enhance the effect by outlining the swaths in the color teal. The inspiration to try teal came from seeing the painting Grey Cells by John Howell White at PAAM (Provincetown Art Association and Museum). I continued my experimentation with these elements, working over formerly discarded paintings and pleased that I had found use for them in this new series. When I finally assembled the grouping and stepped back for a long look, Wenders immediately came to mind. I saw the big, almost primitive storyline represented by the gray outlined in teal. I also saw “gifts” emerging in adjacent areas—colors, texture, variety. I found the contrast compelling.
For me, it’s the contrast that gives the pieces their visual interest as well as their meaning. The contrast of the small-bore versus big, epic stories. The contrast of complex “villages” living vibrantly aside the myth. When I look at the paintings, I see above all this interplay. I believe it reflects a deeply-felt quest for balance, particular to these challenging times. What Wenders seeks to achieve in his films applies urgently to our own stories—how to allow more nuance to unfold amidst the arc of the storyline (aka “through line,” the title of the series), how to emerge from under the myth.