untitled + unknown

I wish I could tell you what this work is about. I wish it had some clever title.

But truth be told, it’s just too soon to know. Not just this piece, but this whole new body of work I’m exploring. It’s both exhilarating and wildly uncomfortable to not know. My mind craves explanations.

I trust that in time it will all make sense. That the meaning, whether it slowly unfurls or arrives like a bolt of lightning, will inevitably arrive.

In the meantime, it’s a strange thing to share. Here is this thing. It’s deeply personal. You can look at it. I don’t know what it’s about.

It’s so different from the way I’ve been working with jewelry these last many years. There I have an inspiration - a season, a location, a feeling - and I translate that into form to the best of my ability. And while there are delightful surprises at times, I can see clearly the relationship between inspiration and form. This is very satisfying. My mind likes this. So does my soul.

This other way, this way that’s coming up through this self portraiture practice, that came up many times in art school and ended up producing much of my favorite work, I know this way is good and valid. This way where I play and let my intuition lead and trust that the meaning, the truth of the thing, will follow.

Which is all a long way of saying. Here is a self portrait. It means something. I don’t know what yet. But I like it.