Abstract Shapes
Thoughts on the variety of contentious infrastructure building projects that fill the news reports lately became the genesis of this painting. Primordial landscape imagery is perceivable in the background as the first layer of this painting. Abundant greenery and pools of water are suggested with a bright light filtered through the atmosphere. This is the landscape that the investor/developer purchases and claims to own. That claim is followed by an inventory of natural resources which the investment process must exploit in order to maximize the investment's return. Humans have done this throughout our history and continue to do so, even though the available primordial landscape is virtually disappearing. Next step comes built systems and logical pathways through the seemingly (to us) haphazard and capricious jumble of stuff that nature produces through its own processes. The grid pattern, the regular geometry of shapes and the stamp of the human by the inclusion of writing symbols are the layers in the painting that show the choice to develop that to which we claim ownership.
Is this painting a critique of human nature and an unsustainable and ultimately foolish way of life, or is this a reflection of how humans have actually improved the creation over which we were given ownership and oversight? As you view this painting, you may decide.