India ink, acrylic on canvas

Each canvas 37”x 49” (94 x 127 cm), Total size 74”x 49” (188 x 127 cm)

This pair of paintings emerged from ruminations on mortality and the passage of time: each stroke is in the process of both coming into being, and fading away.

The marks are also the end result of a performance. The single brush strokes are deliberate, yet intuitive — a silent affirmation of the artist’s presence in a single moment in time. In an instant, however, the stroke is finished, and the artist is absent, leaving behind only an artifact of his process: a trace of intention and presence.

While at first this pair may be seen as opposites, they are not. Together they present a philosophical question, similar to a Zen Koan, or riddle —Are these two different brush strokes, or two manifestations of the same brush stroke?