The Situation We Find Ourselves In (Composition 6 & 7)

The Situation We Find Ourselves In (Composition 6) –

The Situation We Find Ourselves In (Composition 7) –

Today we are between the rock and a hard place. We exist during the Anthropocene. A geological epoch marked by human activity becoming the dominant influence on climate and the environment. Amongst the many concerns and inquiries into our situation is the question of the health of our earth. As we rapidly move from the throws of late-stage capitalism to the enthusiastic reinstating of the proverbial “reduce, reuse, recycle,” anthem our future remains uncertain. Things have to come from somewhere–but where do they come from? Our daily lives have become so smooth that we rarely, if ever, see the making part of the things we enjoy. Yet the making part of everything we’re surrounded by and the conveniences they afford come at a cost. The body of work, “The Situation We Find Ourselves In” is a series of paintings of rocks made of rocks. The paintings are made using only ground rock pigment and water. Similar to the glacial movement of rock, the flow of water, not the artist's hand, moves the pigment around the paper ultimately settling–reanimating the rock. In a circular journey, these rocks go from heavy to a nearly weightless flat representation of themselves. This manifestation of the rock's existence, stuck to paper behind glass, will be but a blink of an eye in its life span. Just as our time here on earth, watched by the rocks, has the potential to be.