From time to time, I make a work that is “just for me”–usually working with some imagery or subject matter that I’m currently interested in but is not necessarily related to the themes in my “serious” art. I recently became fascinated by nudibranches (a.k.a. sea slugs) and wanted to capture their incredible array of colors, textures and patterns, which are remarkable in their variety. What I find particularly fascinating is that sea slugs evolved their visual variety with eyes that are relatively undeveloped, so they will never know what they look like.
From a collection of images that I found on various sites on the Web, I printed out 6 x 6 inch squares featuring a detail of the skin of a particular species. Each square was then laminated and the square arranged in a grid. After I displayed the piece for the first time, I recognized that Mollusca is, in some ways, more compelling and emotional than the “serious” work I was creating at the time and its forms and colors are a source of inspiration for additional work.
