Conditions of Tension 2026

In *Conditions of Tension*, the blue lies beneath an ochre- to terracotta-colored surface. It emerges through narrow cracks and larger openings. Some areas remain closed, while others visibly disintegrate into individual clumps. Straight lines and rectangular fields meet cracks that do not conform to this order.

I create the conditions for an image without fully anticipating its outcome. For me, the preparation is just as much a part of the work as observation and decision-making. What the material makes of it is not a incidental effect; it gives me something to which I must respond.

The five works from 2026 differ in their balance of calm and rupture. A larger blue opening alters the scale of the surrounding network of cracks. A narrow blue fissure draws a clear line through an irregular surface. Elsewhere, a larger area remains calm, lending greater weight to the denser sections. These differences are important for the series; five instances of the same restlessness would be something else entirely.

Anyone who recognizes a landscape, aridity, or something entirely different in these works is bringing their own experience to bear. I do not wish to replace this perception with a prescribed explanation. The image may have more than one interpretation.