Landslide
with Domenica Brockman
It is really hard for me to start writing how this painting came to be. Basically, in a very simple way, it could be told in a little bit longer sentence and it wouldn´t be true. It would be a skeleton, a dead immaculate matter, deprived of soul. I met Domenica Brockman through the art gatherings organized by Leslie Ihde, something that in 6 months we as a group would call Art Family. And I like that. Family is not a coherent thing in the States. One might find himself lost in search for one. I was lucky. Not an easy thing to meet new people, and I am people´s person. I get lost in the work like anyone else but I emerge from it and I meet people to replenish energy.
Domenica Brockman is Ithaca- based artist who comes from Thrumansburg. So her activities are connected to both of them. You can easily find her on Ithaca Art Trail since her studio is in the Downtown. At same time she is one of the founders, with Marina Delaney (Hi Marina J ) and a member of the Cayuga Arts Collective that is sponsored and mostly tied to the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts. At the time when I met her, her work was mostly consisted of abstract experiments with basic geometry and juxtaposition of color composition, all that in an encaustic on wood. Her studio was very neat when you have in mind that she is, mostly, using a very complex technique. And I love that. I love to see certain dedication in artist that tells me that they have utmost respect for themselves and the work they do. Later on her work developed in the direction of more organic geometry and experiments with collage. But my favorite part was when she talked about artist´s “blueprint” idea. She has these 3 small black paintings in the hallway next to her studio, with just basic geometric shapes outlined, that she always comes back to when she feels stuck in developing new work. She always goes to her “blueprint”, and that resonated with me since I also have my own “blueprint”. I always go back to basic children´s drawing as a source for simple and easy readable depiction.
At the beginning I wasn´t really interested in doing any artwork while being in Ithaca. Our apartment was limited in space and I had no space for work. The idea of joining other artists on a group street art project was lingering. Luckily that also happened near the end. Around January I started thinking about new donation for the benefit of the Foundation “Center Duga Art” and I approached Domenica with an idea of collaborative work, something small in size that I could easily work on in a limited space and that would be easy to carry back to Bosnia. She agreed immediately and offered me to choose from 3 of hers projects that she has just started but not further developed. I intervened a little bit, she did too and it all came together perfectly.
At the time I was very depressed. Life in the States put me in a really dark place, but that is another story. During this period I was listening to the Smashing Pumpkins more acoustic works and Landslide just rip through me. The lyrics and emotions conveyed in this song were highlighting the crucial points of my life´s current state. Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life? … The landslide brought it down. And I think these lyrics are reflected in this painting. The composition is stable yet broken, the color space is warm yet distant, there are organic colors and shapes but they are constrained by geometry, and there is a very strong overall sense of motion.
Technique: mixed media (acrylic on canvas & wood, collage)
Size: 30 x 30 cm
Year: May 2023
Availability: In Collection of
Foundation “Center Duga Art”
Japanesque