These wire and painted pieces I call diaphanes, a term derived from the word diaphanous. These veils react to the light passing through the artwork. The paint spans the spaces between the metal threads of the grid. For centuries, encaustic and oil paint were applied on closed fabric canvas that reflects light. My work uses a diaphanous canvas that is partly an open grid. The passing light besides reflecting light back to an observer, casts a shadow on a distanced surface. These shadows can appear more real than the described image. The holes in between paint-filled grids act like lenses, bending light and creating a chromatic change in contiguous colored closed spaces. The alteration of the colors depends on the light conditions. In natural light the colors continually change. The painted form is more like a flat sculpture. Between painted form and shadow, the open space extending from the flat reflecting plane to the cast image on a neighboring surface creates an invisible substance.  I call this technique sculptural painting in space without canvas. In actuality, and with homage to reflected  illumination in art history, this is art about light.

Diaphanes

Eve and Edd, 2022, encaustic on steel hardware cloth with quarter inch openings set in gold-painted angle iron frames mounted on black enamel wood bases.

Eve and Edd: 96”H x 47”L x 4.5”W (2.438 x 1.193 x 0.114  m) Diaphanes on 30”H x 54”L X 30’’W (0.762 x 1.371 x 0.762 m) bases set on 3”Casters