THE WORK
Untitled #31 is part of a body of work entitled ‘How little needs to be said to know nothing.’ This body of work explored my inquiry into the direct experience of form (the body, thoughts and emotions) and formlessness (silence, stillness and spaciousness) through daily contemplations and meditations for nearly two years.
With a keen interest to understand the human experience of consciousness I wanted to take the simplicity of a piece of paper, showing up with a brush in hand, and surrender to whatever the moment created. I wanted to just paint and paint and paint and see what would be there at the end of a hundred paintings. So far I’ve painted 70 works, most of which have not been edited, or gone over, but rather completed in one or two sittings, put to the side, moving onto the next. In this way I felt I was better able to stop the mind from jumping in with conceptual ideas of what ‘should’ be on the page, or allowing overt self-criticism.
As the months rolled by I began to see themes emerge. One of them being “how little can I express onto the paper for it to still engage and meet me in some way?” In this way the title ‘how little needs to be said to know nothing’ quietly came into my awareness one day, and the curiosity as the whether it is read as a question or a statement.
One of the great influences on my work is the book 'Tantra Song' by Franck Andre Jamme, who first exhibited a small selection of Indian sacred works on paper in Paris in 1994. These works were originally produced by Tantric families from Rajasthan for meditation and visualisation where they are left unframed and simply pinned to the walls, usually in a special or "sacred" place in the house. Eventually the piece is discarded or replaced with a new artwork. There is a lovely quality of non-attachment and impermanence to this story which resonates with me.
As you can see from the images, I am suggesting this piece could form part of a studio hanging with other complementary artworks which you can view here:
https://bluethumb.com.au/melinda-blair-paterson/Artwork/the-green-series-untitled-6
https://bluethumb.com.au/melinda-blair-paterson/Artwork/crystalline-1
https://bluethumb.com.au/melinda-blair-paterson/Artwork/altus-deep-down
FRAMING AVAILABLE WITH BLUETHUMB
This work on paper is listed unframed, however please let me know if you would like a quote for framing with Bluethumb. I feel this piece would look beautiful in the simplicity of a white or natural light timber frame. The work is on Canson 290 gsm, weighty, mould resistant, professional art paper.
Thank you for taking the time to view my artwork.
MBP