You Lose You Ooze

You Lose, You Ooze evolved out of a series of drawings entitled A Very Civil Union, which comprised an effort to meditate upon the characteristics of a healthy partnership and how to maintain it once achieved. The aggregate image depicts two suitcases that exist both on their own and as an inextricably entwined entity. This struck me as an analog for the kind of healthy relationship to which each partner brings an approximately equal amount of “baggage,” and out of which develops a new space that is at once inside and beyond each partner -- together making them more than the sum of their parts (and their “issues”). This is a silkscreen print with carborundum “flocking,” meaning that tiny metal shavings were shaken onto the wet print, sticking to the transparent ink base before it dried and the excess dropped away through agitation. These metal shavings are used in printmaking studios to “grain” an image off a limestone so that a new image can be placed onto it from which lithographic prints are “pulled.” The abrasive nature of carborundum materially reflects the challenges inherent in trying to partner with another human being, while the dripping nature of the image figuratively connotes the “blood, sweat, and tears” aspect of trying to make a relationship work and/or losing it. The association of carborundum with trying to erase one go at something to make room for another is fitting for times when we are seeking to begin fresh, hopefully having learned from mistakes that doomed past relationships. The reflective and sparkly aspect of the material relates to…well…you know, the fun times – temptations and rewards that coexist with the tribulations and [hopefully] counterbalance or [ideally] even outweigh them.