One of a series of collages made collectively, with the intent to elicit a similar experience of gazing through reflection-rich puddles. The fractured and rippling forms of organic and curved edges reveal multi-faceted images of texture and form.
Some parts feel familiar, but are encumbered by layers of overlapping paper, both hiding and exposing images more like dreams or mind-scapes than literal puddles.
The puddle symbol can imply looking into reflections of light that sit over top our material and earth-based reality. Sometimes the puddles reveal the surface and texture underneath, other times they are dominated by an illusory sky, active environment, or your own reflected silhouette. Most often it reveals a combination, the puddle can be an ambiguous object with depths that shift and alter depending on perspective.
The puddle also explores themes of science, and references the primordial pool of evolution. By studying the past we reveal more about our existence, and the way we are going. The pool becomes an access point to discovery, whether it be subconsciously or spiritually like the ancient did as they gazed within the swirling waters, or be it in the study of the construction of amino acids and DNA within the boiling waters of the primordial ooze.
Puddle II: Mind-space, 2017. Vandyke Brown Collage. (10"x 12")
While the last collage was an exploration of physical location and an environment of material things, this one contemplates the inner space we often regard as safe and personal.
Referred to as the spirit or soul, consciousness or ego, this internal place we all exist in has long been a place of mystery. It is traced out and mapped, explored and meditated on, but ultimately is something that cannot be objectively qualified.
Many religions delight in abstract patterns and nature-derived forms as way to better understand that which cannot be easily spoken of. The mind, with it's own intricate patterns and waves, is a temple where one can communicate through ideas that exist beyond words in a way that God might communicate. In this puddle is a representation of the pool of the soul, as an exposure to deeper depths within. The color blue is calming, and the patterns and stenciled forms provide an easy focus. The rippling forms undulate and obscure, perhaps suggesting motion, but in a space where there is no movement, just a constant vibration of activity.
