Walden No. 11

Inspired by Henry David Thoreau's book Walden; or, Life in the Woods, the Walden series addresses the fundamental character of nature. Each piece renders in paint a dynamic arrangement of close-up images of blades of grass captured outside the artist’s home in Eastern Long Island. Taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, when daily life was stripped to its essentials, these images draw from Thoreau's desire “to front only the essential facts of life.” The grass, stripped of context and color, is reduced to its basic visual properties, creating a dynamic pattern of contrasts between light and shade. Standing in front of Walden No. 11, one is tempted to contemplate the subtle shifts in perception produced by repetition and variation.