Ruth Bercaw

‘Amalgamation,’ the title given to this Bonfoey exhibition, is a word which has marked application to each composition which I offer here.  Each of my works is an amalgamation of twenty discs of color.

Placed against a white ground of archival paper, each disc within a given set interacts with its fellows.  Using color as my primary vehicle and carefully locating select colors, linkage and especially interest are created within each work. More visually distinctive elements garner first attention, and when brief initial attention subsequently shifts to other units, the sensed movement itself serves to bind each unit into the whole.

Preparation of the sheets of color requires a playful abandon and time commitment sufficient to produce a spread of colors which include a variety of hues having translucent/opaque qualities, textured effects, and relaxing neutrals. The process of producing the colors, all of them mixtures of traditional oil paints rolled with a brayer onto sheets of Japanese rice paper (Goyu), dried and subsequently cut into discs, affords me an array of options to start serious work on a single piece of art.

Working alternately from top to bottom, side to opposite side, inside borders to out, discs of color are selected, placed, moved, exchanged with different pieces, modified by stacking, or at times replaced with totally different colors -- all in a process of try, observe, and respond. When complete, the resultant complement of twenty colored discs is not calculated to have meaning; rather, its aim is to provide a treat for the mind and senses of an observer, to stimulate thought, and offer pleasure. 

However, it is the process entailed in orchestrating one of these compositions which may be seen as meaningful, its sequence and a knowing persistence.     Idea. Material. Selection. Survival. Finish.

That’s something like Life itself.