Process

Video (@ 1:22)

The Dark Glass

2010
Assemblage with interpolating spectral optical lens
18 x 65 x 6 inches
Collection of Jesse Elder

Looking closely into the glass, one will see multiples of reflected images. By moving horizontally, changes in the color spectrum occur. Some may conjure more metaphysical images while gazing. Here—as with the Noumenon series—I explore my obsession with the idea of endless depth, endless emptiness and endless darkness. I have always worked in a parallel with the surrealist modus operandi, delving into the subconscious for inspiration and trying to get a glimpse of what’s on the ‘other side.’ The wicked witch has her crystal ball, Nostradamus had a pool of dark water, the Aztecs their scrying mirrors of black onyx…certain patterns and color composites in the glass return me to the world of tryptamines and other bad tasting etheogens that have given me a peek or two through the fence cracks, through which the art of being becomes amplified and concrete meaning becomes less and less important: a philosophy that I am applying to my art more and more. We make such a big deal of everything; what is on the other side just is, and there is beauty in that simplicity.