In This Place
In This Place, 2004. Pastel on paper, 11 1/2 x 11 1/2" each.
While developing this series, I ruminated on the events in my life that have ushered me into present. Each drawing led to the creation of the next, just as each life circumstance leads to the next. I allowed the elements of color, line, space, and movement to converse with one another, each mark responding to the previous (taking note of Romare Bearden’s improvisational process that continues to inthrall me, as a child who grew up listening to streams of jazz that echoed from Ba’s (Father’s) record player).
The above selection derives from a series of forty-eight drawings that hint to a blurred perspective of specific environments, objects, and spaces in between. My surrendering control was also prompted by the nature of chalk pastel—a medium that, in itself, is difficult to control. As I embraced the smudges and smears, the organic evolution of each piece, in mark and in form, brought a kind of peace that I hadn’t expected—a kind of peace that hardly comes with aiming toward the unknown, but can be experienced through art, which can hopefully be embodied as we navigate through the often discomforting unknowns of life.