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acrylic and colored pencil on panel, 24 x 18 inches

Notes on power lines paintings.

The power line paintings are grounded, like most of my work, in observation. The colors are tuned to the evening hues of the Los Angeles skyline, over the Pacific with all that that implies: languid surfy sunsets and beach moments - the contemplation of the horizon (the abyss!) and its myriad associative possibilities: Los Angeles is a town of pyrotechnic success and failure; arcing triumph and spectacular burnout. Looking west one night, and focusing on the colors of the waning light, I realized how gracefully the drooping power lines framed the scene. The lines’ presence was at once irritating - in its disruption of a classically sublime vista with human presence - and also compositionally very satisfying: the crisp lines hanging across the distant, blurry color-wash provided a visual schism that I liked. While gorgeous to behold, the wires also are arterially connected to civilization’s efforts to tap into, control and instrumentalize power.