david palmer studio
forever almost falling
in the ways things are connected, both directly and through networks, and how simple elements can combine
and evolve into complex organisms. Though the nature of these tends to be biological, there are parallels
in social and information systems as well.
I see these latest linoleums as an extension of the work in my Flatlands series, but with the area of focus
zoomed in. They are paintings made without paint. While still topographical in nature, I think of them less and
less as satellite views and more as a glimpses through an imaginary microscope. The title of the series comes from
a phrase in Kevin Kelly's book Out of Control, where he describes the poised disequilibrium of living systems,
forever almost falling as they ride the edge between chaos and order. Not only does his phrase beautifully describe
the adaptive self-correcting process of evolution, it's also a pretty good description of the painting process itself.
flatlands
AAA roadmaps, microbiology and Australian Aboriginal paintings. I'm fascinated by the similarity in forms
discovered when viewing our world from different vantage points, whether looking at the surface of the
earth from above or peering at cells through a microscope. And I find maps to be every bit as compelling as
the territories they represent; the roadmaps we use to plan our trips, diagrams of DNA,
Aboriginal paintings depicting journeys of ancestral beings.
I work intuitively, starting with a seed idea and then improvising, exploring color and figure/ground
relationships, scale and modularity. The square pieces are individually self-contained, but also function as
parts of a larger implied grid, apparent when multiple units are viewed together. My materials are linoleum
and vinyl, chosen for their tactile qualities, for their readymade textures, and because flooring material seems
an appropriate metaphor for both the surface of the earth (which is itself becoming increasingly manmade)
and the microscopic realm (our latest construction site).
Many of these images suggest multiple readings; one form could be seen as a lake or a microbe, another as a
printed circuit or a housing development. Creating this work helps to remind me that we are not as separate
from each other as we sometimes feel, and that we are part of a much larger system.
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