The Integrity of the Picture Plane.

Is this what I keep mentioning as the elusive quality that I chase in paintings of late?


This was a phrase popularized by C. Greenberg, primarily in regards to the flattening of painting that occurred throughout modernism. I read this as an acknowledgement of paintings form as the medium(/meaning?) was being deconstructed: a self awareness.

I have thought of this integrity in terms of a puzzle metaphor. Imagine a puzzle where the lines between the pieces correspond to the gestalt lines of perception. This interlocking is not necessarily constrained to "physical" objects. It also works with "empty" space (a physical object none-the-less).


There is also a notion of "spatial architecture" that I believe arises out of this treating of empty space as a physical object.

The puzzle pieces have a direction implicit in the brushwork that contributes to the overall sense of structure.


I've been looking at

William Wray lately...

I've got an interview for Grad School!

So. In case I haven't mentioned it, I have started hearing back from grad schools.

The first three that came in were rejections.

The fourth, was a request that I show up for an interview.

I return to writing as I prepare for that interview, and I aim to get my words together for that interview.

Some questions:

How to contextualize the Bald Guy in the future direction of my work?

The bald guy is a symbol of myself. Whether he is an alter ego or projection is yet to be determined.



It is no coincidence that I started drawing the bald guy when my mother was undergoing chemotherapy "treatment" for her cancer. As her condition worsened, she stopped wearing her wig. The chemo made her hair fall out and an image of a bald mother is quite a haunting one indeed.

The bald is a symptom of an assault on the system. The assault on the system is an attempt to "fix" things. Perhaps there is an analogy between industrial thinking and that approach toward healing cancer.

Another aspect to figure out would be the music as it relates to my painting practice.