Organic/ Geometric Juxtaposition 4
Masonite, Spray paint, Plexiglass, Oils, and Oak
25”x 25 ”x 4"
2005

This fourth and final work in the Juxtaposition series serves as a conclusion to one of the aspects that the prior works had investigated. The previous works had explored pictorial depth with an ever-increasing amount of layering of different elements. This layering had served to create a sense of symbolic depth into which the viewer could project himself without the need to rely on the use of orthogonal or atmospheric perspective.

The series also functioned as a means to explore color relationships. Each of the first three works can be broken down like this: a solid background merges with a nebulous form. A geometric form is then placed over the nebula form, and in the case of 1 and 3 a more or less organic element is added on top of that. While a good deal of the color relationships were planned out in the color choices of the layers, the nebula form offers the work a degree of subtlety and complexity not available in the other layers. It seemed fitting then, that the conclusion to the series would become a series of “colorless” layers that depict the depth of one of these important nebula forms.

In Organic/ Geometric Juxtaposition 4, the nebula form rises from its background as a series of elevations as would be seen in a topographic map. This is not an arbitrary choice of form. The work originated as a color study. It was then scanned and put into an image altering program where I adjusted the contrast of the study to define the separation of each of the 6 color layers depicted. “Isobars” were then drawn around each of these layers to define them as separate areas of color range. Then the shapes were simply cut out of masonite and layered one on top of the other, changing color information into elevation information. The work was finished by adding a sheet of plexiglass with an etched and painted grid to enclose the work. This addition prevents the viewer from realizing the work’s dimension and forces only a visual understanding of the work. This all serves to remove the color of the previous works from its inclusion in this 4th work. However, using the predecessors of the series as a guide, this work can be understood for what it actually is; a work without defined color. In other words, the viewer is free to experience the imagined color of the work in the way that seems most fitting to him/her.