Strata

Strata (or its singular version, stratum) most frequently refers to stacked layers of material.  Painting is, among other things, predicated on layers to develop image or effect.  The works present in this exhibition display both extremes of this quality.  While some are created within a matter of minutes, others have developed over many months, with some even stretching into years.  Each one a tribute to the layers of its making. 

This broad spectrum of labor applied to these paintings, in addition to their elemental appearance, serve as metaphors for both geologic time and material.  While the immensity of geologic time is a concept humans cannot fully comprehend given our brief lifespans, we can see clearly its effects and histories.  Landscapes can be transformed over eons with the steady stream of river water, the ebb and flow of ocean tides, or the creeping movement of glaciers.  Likewise, a landslide, flood, avalanche, or volcanic eruption can reshape the earth in a matter of minutes or hours.  The procedural spirit of these paintings pull from both of these extremes.  Gravity, sedimentary build-up, erosion and deposition, fissuring, stalactite formation, combined with a broad unpredictability and irregularity are all on display in varying forms and combinations.  

The counterpoint to the organic, geological references is found in the line work present in some of the paintings, derived from civil engineering diagrams.  Their original application was to control and overcome nature in the service of some greater humanitarian function.  They point towards humankind’s need to organize, to survive, and to remember.  While some exist purely as line drawings, others are subject to the extreme painterly processes rooted in the natural forces listed above.  They are drawn, layered, buried, eroded, obscured, erased.  My hope is that these paintings can function as a memorial - not to one specific person or group but in a universal sense. 

-S. Zoller, July 2021