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 III: Corpus, 2017. Van dyke brown collage, (10"x12").
The third in the series, this collage is attuned to the corporeal and animalistic side of existence. Puddles of reflection are often found on the ground, or in an environment. It can also be found the the reflections of the eye, whether human or animal.
There is something innate and connecting between us all, species and phylum may vary but the true essence seems to be found throughout.
The bodily cravings, the fascinations, the anxiety and fear; loneliness and crowded, claustrophobic and comfortable. Creaturely.
What we do share in common are sets of patterns, common traits, or characteristics. They may span a family, or a species, or a kingdom, but are ultimately closer than they are far to us. The extreme void of space makes even the most grotesque insects of earth a charm.
What we see in the reflection of our eyes is ultimately the same mass of squiggles and vibrations that others see, yet we differentiate ourselves chiefly on perspective. Without a perspective, a point-of-view from one specific organism, who are you? Does the puddle of consciousness in your mind define you, or is the definition in the way you view the world in regards to you?
