Paul J Flick

Texture or rather than juxtaposition of textures, beyond the traditional aspects of line, shape, color, design, rhythm, balance, etc., are meant to invoke deeper feelings and recall events in both our conscience and subconscious. It can stimulate the recall of a time and space in one’s life that can fuel out passions, or better yet, ignite our creativity and our fascination with its process. 

 

Some have asked: why this size? It’s more intimate. One must get closer to interact with the pieces. In such proximity it becomes obvious that the relationships of the distance, the direction of the light, the color of the light, as well as the angle at which the piece is viewed, all have a dramatic effect on the piece like a little shrine. 

 

I draw inspiration from: Nature, Russian icons, Piet Mondrian, Emil Nolde, reflections in windows, as Richard Estes captured so well. (I think of an Este’s supermarket front that is reflecting a gallery with a Rene Margritte in its window with a bird flying by. This is in my imagination. I do not believe this painting actually exists.) Then there is Joseph Cornell (whose medium is boxes), along with all the boxes and drawers that we see many times every  day and never pay much attention to: the sock drawer, the inside of the medicine cabinet, the glove compartment, the trunk, the fishing tackle box, the fire alarms. The list goes on. 

 

Most importantly, these are personal Altars, Religious Shrines that invoke the dances of life, nature, time of day, seasons, the movement of Mother Earth, the moon, the stars, the planets, how the wind moves the leaves, dust, snow and water. One’s first and last breathe especially your own heart beat! Everything is a verb. People have told me they dream about being, such as floating, in the pieces.