MUCK & MIRE...............................................................................The title“Muck & Mire” for my paintings on paper in 2018 might appear to be done with tongue-in-cheek, but in fact I was fully aware of what I was about in this title, and what I wanted to emphasize in this series. I did them to display as a collection and digitally, not as wall art, because as a contemporary artist I’m able to show in any digital manner I wish, from a simple slide presentation to a much more complex digital presentation, and I can include music, along with a voice introduction which expresses my purpose in this body of work. While extensive freedom is given to me in the contemporary art field, I still must have an aesthetic value in what is done.

        I did the 22 paintings in the Muck & Mire series on Stonehenge paper in mixed media. My idea was to unearth in my series the ‘codes’ and ‘patterns’ in the muck and mire of our humanity. Some art historians and authors claim that in art ‘codes’ must be created, whereas ‘patterns’ are repetitions of specific visual elements.

       Humans do attribute patterns to explain or describe events, scientific or other wise, and we do create codes in business, science, politics and social order. Codes in art have also been claimed to occur, made famous and controversial in Dan Brown’s book the Da Vinci Code. Brown was playing it smart in choosing Da Vinci as one who included codes in his paintings, as so much of Da Vinci’s life’s work seems to be hidden instructions transmitted in ‘code’: FOR A VIDEO WITH MY PAINTINGS IN THE MUCK & MIRE SERIES, PASTE THIS LINK INTO YOUR BROWSER;  SAFE LINK: https://youtu.be/in13YJjOzUg See Video on this Link.

“Any of the senses may directly observe patterns. Conversely, abstract patterns in science, mathematics, or language may be observable only by analysis. Direct observation in practice means seeing visual patterns, which are widespread in nature and in art.” Source Wikepedia patterns