where black is the colour and none is the number

i want to paint again. big black holes this time. black on white, patterns, stark shapes, bold, simple, all the colour sucked into the centre.

inky swabs.


i've started reading henry miller again. here we go! gives me reason to write and plan and make a life of art. make art of a life.


waiting for BREAD pictures still...


meantime, something else that's sticking in my mind,

"you've got great arms, i've been watching them the whole time, they do amazing things, they're always moving."

(i drank a lot of coffee that day)


i've been to visit AGWA a bit lately and my visits have been strangely exhillerating. my favourite thing to stand in front of is the Jean Arp piece, "Torso of a Giant". i want to hug it. i want it to hug me, actually, it's huge and has amazing crevices and holes and dips. i stood in front of it for ages, sucking it up. i felt tiny, swallowed in by its bigness.
this is the bronze version... AGWA owns the preliminary plaster version, which gives it a different quality entirely.


something else on my mind this week:

Dale Frank.

as my brilliant companion ranted so eloquently: "there is no context, don't try and tell me there's a context. the work is nothing. but it's also everything, at the same time"

this work makes me think a lot about its relation to my own work. our pursuits are similar, our methodology too, the major difference i see is that Dale Frank's work is assertively masculine, virile (which i love about it), and mine is controlled, fragile, somewhat more feminine. circular. in my view this is something i am aware of, but not shying away from. yes, i am female. yes, there will undeniably be feminine influences to my work. but i'm not a feminist. i could go on, but not really feeling particularly wordy today.


and while we're on the subject, I've also been looking at Alex Spremberg's work again:

and he says:
"I consider paintings to be objects, not pictures.
The work is specific in its conception and its physical presence yet it does not pose any conditions on viewers.

When liquid white meets black both interact and find their place on the surface.
This interaction of opposites becomes even more intricate when variables such as gloss, semi-gloss and matte paints are introduced.

I am interested in initiatives that determine their own inherent results.
Painting that is located between intentional activities and unintentional occurrences.
Processes that create their own dynamics, where works are not made but occur as the result of factors that are beyond my control.

I want to be surprised by my paintings."

I think we need to meet. He is having an exhibition in June...