Imagine if the great provocateur of color Henri Matisse took a left turn from Tahiti and met the adventurous archeologist Merle Greene? I believe they would have found in each other not just a tolerance for warm climates but also kindred spirit; his artistic playfulness would have made her laugh while he would be exhilarated by her sheets of paper and her unique methods for capturing shapes. I find deep wells of inspiration from both of these creators.

Parsing the two influences requires deconstructing the visual system into the what and where system, color and value; which when separated can simultaneously create aesthetically complimentary images while also offering divergent interpretations of the same subject.

Putting scissors to paper like Matisse many of my artworks focus on the shapes of my subject. Those shapes can then be turned, flipped, rearranged, and recut into infinite arrangements. Some will be embellished with arbitrary color and some arrangements will be given a protective cover of paper and like Merle Greene rubbed with a crayon.

The resulting artworks function separately but something special can and does happen when installed together, an interplay of multiple dialectics.

From a philosophical view the incompleteness, what is occluded, sets up an opposition with the incompleteness of the companion artworks. It leaves a contradiction to be resolved by the viewer to illuminate a wider view of the past, present, and future. The resolution is found in the metaphorical function of the works.

Painting in all its forms is always a language of metaphor. What do the forms represent? Pairing the works brings the metaphor closer to the foreground: the message thru the noise, the ubiquitous structures that frame our spaces, the contrived from the factual, the ephemeral and the enduring, the youthful and the staid, beauty and truth, frivolous and sublime; The viewer finds resolution between available dialectics of different works where their sensibility fuses meaning between them. 

I think these ideas coalesced and came into focus for the first time in my project “rock, paper, tents.” And breathed a strong headwind as a mid-career artist.

While the projects might be laden with meaning depending on how far the viewer wants to go, for me it is the Matissian play that I find compelling, the open possibilities and the surprises. Discovering what direction the artwork wants to go. 

Why begin with paper? Paper is such a throw away item that there is no intimidation and as a freeing starting point it also has a wondrous pliability the helps open meaning thru its ambiguities. The rubbings on the other hand like the grand archeological works of Merle Greene are meant to document something important for posterity, a dialectic I suppose between the frivolous and the sublime. When the structure is revealed in a space of nominal light and shadow the solidity and gravity of them takes my breath away. I find when installed together the meaning can be best found.

My imaginary story of Henri and Merle coming together is the aspiration of collaboration and mutualism. Finding opportunity for common ground where at first glance is opposition. A far reaching goal beyond the canvas with friends, family, colleagues, and the larger world.

Joe Bliss is an artist and teacher who splits his time between the North East and North West of the United States. Please contact in regard to residencies, lectures, and exhibitions.