Saturday, July 7, 2012

Vertical Explorations

Six Four Twelve Horizontal  Cropped And Inverted As Vertical
c Wm Cook 2012





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6 comments:

William Cook said...

L.W.Roth, has left a new comment on your post "Vertical Explorations":

I wondered where you were. Now I see. There's deep space in this one and luscious color. It's very beautiful Bill. Peaceful, even though it's vertical. Heavenly Ascent Spiraling. Your workmanship is admirable. ('d like to say awesome, but the teens have made that such a shallow word when it isn't). There's lots of layers and process involved. Perhaps someday you'll talk about that?

William Cook said...

Hi Linda--What a delightful comment. I was so excited to hear from you that I Hit the wrong button. I am embarrassed. Forgive me.

I do want to add some text to this at some point but don't have time presently.

I think I liked the idea of a reversed image because of all the pastel people working on black substrates. The work just looks more luminous. This is just a normal 'horizontal' reversed in P shop (and saturated a bit).

RH Carpenter said...

I was drawn to this immediately, Bill. It has a coolness but also a strong energy - like cracks in a glacier ready to break away. Beautiful. I think it has a very different feeling as a horizontal. What made you change it to a vertical?

Dan Kent said...

Wow. Iridescent, complex - it pulsates with movement and light! OK, here was the thought that came to me - Barnett Newman's "Onement" on speed.

Love it. It should be hanging in a museum.

Celeste Bergin said...

I have no idea how you achieved this color....but .....wow!

William Cook said...

Hi Rhonda--A very good question. I've never favored verticals, but have always wondered what would happen if I tried them. I my spiritual quest[s] I've always tried to calm down my consciousness--like a Yogi or a Zen. The Horizontal lends itself to this, but alas I think viewers misread this 'spiritual' and tend to regard these as death or sleep--boring. As verticals these are gaining an energetic excitement--the opposite of the horizontal--same exact techniques. That comment comparing this to a crackling glacier is over the top cool. Thanks for painting that picture in my head.

Dan--I had to look up Barnet Newman. Oh yes. I remember this guy. Wonderful similarities. His work also had many spiritual overtones. Of course it doesn't take a rocket scientist to get what 'oneness' refers to. I'm not reducing everything to lowest terms however. There is great complexity in oneness, don't you think?

Hi Celeste--This piece is actually the same piece I showed 6/4. I stuck it into Photoshop, reversed it, bumped up the saturation and contrast a little and then made it vertical. I don't think it would be too difficult to work this way in white ink and pastel on a black sanded substrate--like Casey does. It's like working with light itself, or raw energy--the kind that keeps up all alive. Anyway I'm just exploring this idea a little as the title suggests.