I present to you my newest painting — a “simple” geometric artwork I call Variant.

Simple geometric art: Variant. Acrylic on canvas. 48 inches (122 cm) square. 2011.

What makes this painting simple? Geometric art, as a genre, is characterized by repetitive shapes and motifs that often fill the entire picture plane, forming an allover pattern.

By contrast, although geometric, my newest painting takes a step back, allowing a series of stripes to interact simply with a pattern that appears to be just beginning to form. Neither the stripes, nor the pattern, become the geometric artwork’s focal point; the two elements achieve a fragile balance, framed by negative space.

The story behind this geometric painting is relatively simple, as well. I discovered this composition accidentally one night in late October, after four hours of mashing up patterns and shapes in Illustrator. The moment I arrived at this composition, I knew it had to be painted!

The happy accident that led to this painting only proves to me that as long as I experiment — no matter how long, laborious, or fruitless the process may seem — worthwhile results will follow. Four hours of going nowhere can lead to somewhere uncharted.

Tags: abstract painting, geometric art, paintings

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