New Painting Completed

Last month I managed to finalize an on-going project, a large-scale still life depicting three pomegranates and a sheet of verse.

Titled "Moment #3: Still-life of Three Pomegranates" the style features a painterly, textured image and measures 22" X 30", acrylic on watercolor paper.

They exist here as abstacted, raw shapes. Awkward globes. Raw color tones.

Without paying close attention, overtime, pomegranates have appeared in my paintings and photos. They exist as a strong source of poetics and mythic circles:

the various degrees of decay if they lie ripening,
the various natures of blood red color tones,
the mythic cycle of the seasons hidden in
the labyrinth of seeds, once the leathery hide is removed,

—a secret orchard revealed

The word choice in the name (moment) refers to a short series of multimedia projects all tied together under a common title: "a moment in time" — once the project transfers into a definite concept, more information will be posted regarding it in the near future.

For now, there are four linked projects, all containing short poetic statements on a common theme of time or personal history. In the case of this painting, the painted verse states:

another moment
subtraction from the self

fragmented elements marking
the scene

a trio of blood red circles
a coven of witches burning incense
chanting their cyclical prayers
a recitation for change, repair

or rather protection, to preserve
the sacred notion of the world

sacred hearts in a circle

three wishes braided tight
as a child's drawing with chalk
rough loops motioning across
the sidewalk
a spiraling uncoiled
      —dgs

In the long run, the unique, diverse individualism that composes the fruit attracts me the most. Not one of these handfuls looks the same, even when they fall from the same tree.

And the whole process of ripping them open to find the jewel-like seeds encased in sticky pulp, multi-chambered, secret compartments...

and of course the myth of Persephone, eating only a few tart seeds grown from the gardens of the underworld, forcing the world into a seasonal change yearly. She herself changing from a young flower goddess to a dark Queen of Hades: life to death, spring to winter.

Ars longa; vita brevis.