Above: Surprise, Surprise No. 23 creates a powerful relationship between surface and depth, where intense red passages appear to grow from beneath the image rather than simply sit upon it. The composition carries the feeling of a living surface: the bright red edges of a succulent plant, the glowing veins of a leaf, or organic growth emerging from a darker environment.
The richness of the red comes from its relationship with the hidden layers beneath it. Dark greens and traces of blue from the reverse surface deepen and transform the visible color, creating an image where the front and back are not separate but physically and visually connected.
The fractured red forms create a sense of sudden energy, almost like an electrical charge passing through the surface. At moments they suggest reflected red light, a bonfire illuminating the surrounding woods, or a moment of intense color frozen immediately before change.
Below: The reverse surface reveals the deep green foundation beneath the vivid red image. Instead of simply showing a hidden layer, the Below view completes the visual logic of the work, showing how the front and back depend on one another.
The dark greens create the feeling of looking from behind a landscape toward a source of light—like viewing a fire through trees or seeing the glow of an event from within the surrounding darkness. Blue passages add another atmospheric layer, shifting the image between forest, shadow, and reflected light.
The two sides create a pronounced relationship between inside and outside: the visible surface and the hidden environment that gives it meaning.
Reflection: Surprise, Surprise No. 23 explores how opposing forces can become inseparable. Red and green, brightness and darkness, surface and depth, interior and exterior—all exist together within a single image.
The process of folding, transferring, and reopening the tracing paper allows colors to interact across boundaries. Marks and pigments migrate between states, creating relationships that could not exist on a single flat surface. The work becomes a record of contact, exchange, and transformation.
Like a flame viewed from different sides, a plant growing through changing light, or a memory altered by new information, the image remains suspended between states. Its energy comes from the moment when contrast becomes connection and separation becomes unity.
Above: Surprise, Surprise No. 23 creates a powerful relationship between surface and depth, where intense red passages appear to grow from beneath the image rather than simply sit upon it. The composition carries the feeling of a living surface: the bright red edges of a succulent plant, the glowing veins of a leaf, or organic growth emerging from a darker environment.
The richness of the red comes from its relationship with the hidden layers beneath it. Dark greens and traces of blue from the reverse surface deepen and transform the visible color, creating an image where the front and back are not separate but physically and visually connected.
The fractured red forms create a sense of sudden energy, almost like an electrical charge passing through the surface. At moments they suggest reflected red light, a bonfire illuminating the surrounding woods, or a moment of intense color frozen immediately before change.
Below: The reverse surface reveals the deep green foundation beneath the vivid red image. Instead of simply showing a hidden layer, the Below view completes the visual logic of the work, showing how the front and back depend on one another.
The dark greens create the feeling of looking from behind a landscape toward a source of light—like viewing a fire through trees or seeing the glow of an event from within the surrounding darkness. Blue passages add another atmospheric layer, shifting the image between forest, shadow, and reflected light.
The two sides create a pronounced relationship between inside and outside: the visible surface and the hidden environment that gives it meaning.
Reflection: Surprise, Surprise No. 23 explores how opposing forces can become inseparable. Red and green, brightness and darkness, surface and depth, interior and exterior—all exist together within a single image.
The process of folding, transferring, and reopening the tracing paper allows colors to interact across boundaries. Marks and pigments migrate between states, creating relationships that could not exist on a single flat surface. The work becomes a record of contact, exchange, and transformation.
Like a flame viewed from different sides, a plant growing through changing light, or a memory altered by new information, the image remains suspended between states. Its energy comes from the moment when contrast becomes connection and separation becomes unity.