'City of Glass 28 - (The Space Between)' 60x50cms
City of Glass 28 - (The Space Between) was Shortlisted for the 2016 RWA Open
The space between left-side and right-side, between West Side and East Side. The space between the front and back of the painting, between interior and horizon.The space between figurative and abstract, fact and fiction, between map-truth and painting truth.
I have been working on this painting for the last few days and it is directly connected to the forthcoming Canterbury workshop 'The Space Between' and the ideas from the last painting in the series, 'The Stillman Apartment'. Once again 'the space between' is Central Park and I have been exploring ways to make it dominant, the subject of the painting.The link to the novel* is obscured: the proportions of city blocks and the park with Columbus Circle anchoring the painting on the bottom edge. But these 'facts' are ambiguous and subservient to the painting. The black-violet space is deep and seductive. I spent an hour staring into that space late last night. Ceramacist Paul Jackson saw the painting today and posed a question about the grey/green shape hanging in the violet from the horizon/69th St. The comment made me look hard again but I decided the shape must stay; it is an escape, a way out and is where the eye comes to rest.
A breakthrough piece.
detail
in progress 2
in progress 1
* 'The New York Trilogy' by Paul Auster