coming soon... for now, here's some text on the new series of drawings:

tangents — a new series of drawings using a vocabulary of lines, dots and arcs in varying syntax to explore definition of surface, structural tension and framing edge, while envoking a mechanical persona. This "erector set" of simple parts combines and recombines like cooperative automatons defining a colonial map, a schematic, an organizational chart, a collective machine... while at the same time attempting to succeed in a purely non-representational, formalistic way.

Intersecting lines "nail" each other to the paper surface, while other intersections employ broken lines to suggest depth, using an absolute minimum of perceptual convention. Short strokes serve as rivets or define openings in the surface.

In some of the drawings, the framing edge is solidly reflected, providing another reminder of surface and medium. In others, the edge is all but ignored, allowing open space to lead the eye and the mind past the edges of the paper, and even past its plane.

Certain arcs act like bands of spring steel, sometimes attached at one end and nailed at the other end by a crossing line or the suggestion of a "tunneling" into and beyond the paper's surface, held in place under tension, threatening to snap or cut loose if given the chance. Other arcs are more static... simple circle segments. Dots insinuate arc centers, focal points, radial anchors, implying incompleteness... or, alternately, stability.

Without the arc, there is no potential energy; rectangles and perpendiculars are artifice, and reflect the artifice of the paper's shape... while the arc — a more organic element — brings energy and life to the machined shapes. A watch spring needs an outside force to supply it with energy. Which begs the question... where does the arc get its life?

While the encroachment series of paintings relies more on weight and power as expressed through tone and color, the tangents series is an exercise in description, reduced to the level of what a computer programmer would call "machine code" — the most basic of languages.

If I were the commander of a nuclear bomber wing, I suppose I might call this "Purity Of Essence." But, fortunately, I'm not.

The original sketch for some of the drawings was done in pencil on paper, then translated to Adobe Illustrator. Others were originated in Illustrator.

I have tentative plans to create a parallel series — "fraternal twins" — each drawing recreated by hand in pencil or ink, referencing a print of the computerized art... bringing the process full circle, and allowing a side-by-side comparison of human-made and machine-printed versions.

Release will likely be as a limited edition of archival computer prints, with a limited number of suites including hand-drawn siblings.