Painting As A Portal

The Process Is The Portal

It is imaginable that one of the first ways early humans communicated was through mark making. This would have likely occurred by the use of sticks scratching in the dirt. The most basic marks are ovals and lines and were probably some of the first marks made by our ancestors. Much has been written about the beginning of abstraction and the idea that it began in the early 20th century. This notion seems utterly flawed to me. Looking at the art created by non-modernized people in remote parts of the globe it is clear to see that mark making began with shapes and patterns and continues to be so. In this way, abstraction wasn’t invented or created. Abstraction is just a term that was applied to Western art when early 20th century artists began exploring line, color, and form for the sake of line color and form. Most likely because of exposure to “primitive” cultures who had not forgotten our human mark making heritage.

For me the use of the oval and the line is a way of connecting back to our human experience as mark-makers. No thought is required, simply moving the brush. The human instinct takes over and in that state a portal opens. As I look back on the body of work that continues to emerge in this genre, potential meanings and interpretations unfold within each work. In many parts of our human cultures the ring is a symbol of our union. In this context it is many things at once. It is the commitment we share as society members, it is a vessel that represents our truth, it is a portal to the unmanifest, it is the cycle of life, this list goes on.. The lines become legs or supports. They are the shared responsibility of each of us within our communities and our relationships. The drawn line is our lives and they meet at the portal to birth/death.